Huang Ying woke up with a jolt to the sound of someone knocking on the door. The array beneath the cottage prevented sounds from entering or leaving the cottage, but it had a function that allowed others to knock on the door and allow their voice to be heard inside the cottage.

Huang Ying's vision was still slightly blurry and he had a pounding headache, but at least all his wounds had closed. He shook his head to clear his mind and stood up. He found that his insides were still in slight disarray, making him rather unsteady and shaky.

«Just a moment, I just need to take a quick shower.»

Huang Ying's throat was dry, so his voice was slightly hoarse as he called out. He recognized the voice of the person who knocked on his door, it was Xiao Mei. Looking down, Huang Ying could see that not just his robe, but even his body was covered in dried blood. If he left the cottage like this, Xiao Mei would sure cause a commotion.

«Okay. Take your time Junior Brother Ying, I will wait here.»

Xiao Mei's voice sounded out with a laughter. Huang Ying stepped into the bathroom of the cottage and tore of his dirty robe. He was just about to activate the array that would create water, when he suddenly noticed something in the mirror.

He turned to face the mirror and the corner of his mouth couldn't help but twitch slightly. His face was slightly pale, making it obvious that he was not in perfect shape, but that was not what caused the corner of his mouth to twitch.

His hair had changed. Where it used to be pitch black, like the scales of Baku, it had now turned a pure white. It looked like it had lost all pigment, turning it a shimmering white.

«How the fuck did this happen?»

Huang Ying couldn't help but touch his hair as he muttered to himself. He could guess that it had something to do with how he forcefully absorbed the destruction blood and Qi, but he was not completely certain.

He shook his head and released a sigh, since it had already happened, there was nothing he could do. He activated the array in the bathroom and took a quick shower, washing away all the blood on his body.

After he finished the shower, he put on a fresh azure robe. They had been given several Eastern Wind uniforms, but Huang Ying felt more comfortable in his blue robes. After he finished dressing, he left the cottage, coming face to face with a slightly shocked Xiao Mei.

«What happened to your hair? And why are you so pale?»

Xiao Mei grabbed Huang Ying's arm and placed her fingers on his wrist. She sent a small amount of Qi into his body and had it make a quick round through his body. She could see that he had no injuries, but his Qi was in disarray.

«I just had a small accident while trying out a new experiment, it's nothing to worry about Senior sister Mei.»

Huang Ying had a polite smile as he spoke. There was no way he could tell her that he had to forcibly absorb his own Qi and blood back into his body, as it would only lead to more questions. It would be better to be vague.

«Eat this, it will help stabilize your Qi, preventing you from dropping in cultivation.»

Xiao Mei frowned and took out a pure white pill from her interspatial ring and stuffed it into Huang Ying's mouth, forcing him to swallow it. The pill dissolved in his throat and turned into a cool stream of Qi that coursed through his body.

The stream of Qi forced the disarrayed Qi in his body to flow in a stable manner. She did this because if it stayed in disarray, there was a chance that the Qi could rampage once more, crashing into his World Core and destroying it.

«Thank you Senior Sister Mei. You truly are good to me.»

Huang Ying spoke with a sincere tone and gave a faint smile. There was indeed a chance that his Qi could run rampant and destroy his World Core, but Huang Ying had not been too worried about that happening.

«Don't mention it.»

Xiao Mei responded with a bright smile, but she did not let go of Huang Ying's arm. Only after she made sure that all his Qi had stabilized did she remove her fingers from his wrist and let him go.

Her grandfather wanted her to foster an excellent relationship with this Huang Ying, he even assured her that he would become a true monster in the future, so how could she just stand by and watch as his cultivation might drop?

Xiao Mei smiled at Huang Ying and grabbed him by the arm, dragging him after her towards the restaurant again. Seeing how she was dragging him along, Huang Ying could feel his headache grow heavier by the second.

If she kept dragging him through the academy like this, he wouldn't be surprised if he became the enemy of every single male in the academy. Just the walk from the cottage to the restaurant resulted in numerous glares being directed at him, it only got worse when they sat at the same table as they ate and chatted.

«Junior Brother Ying. After we have finished eating, I am going to take you to a lecture.»

While they were eating and chatting, Xiao Mei suddenly changed the topic as she sent Huang Ying a smile. Hearing her words, Huang Ying couldn't help but raise his eyebrow.

Huang Ying couldn't help but admit that he was interested. All the knowledge he had was things he had either read in books or devoured from the memories of other people.

“Yup. I imagined that you have never been to an actual lecture, so i decided to take you to one today and let you expand your horizons a bit.”

Xiao Mei nodded her head with a smile upon seeing Huang Ying interested. There was a limited amount of things they could do together if they just continuously walked around the academy, so she decided to bring him with her to a lecture.

“Indeed, I have never been to a lecture. Then it seems like I must thank you Senior Sister Mei, I am looking forward to it.”

Huang Ying put on a smile and continued eating breakfast and talking with Xiao Mei.

“Come now, let's go.”

After they finished eating, Xiao Mei grabbed Huang Ying's arm once more and left the restaurant. This time she did not drag him after her, but instead walked next to him, making it look like they were holding hands.

“The lecture taking place here today is a lecture on Qi. You must make sure to pay attention and learn well Junior Brother Ying.”

The place she took Huang Ying was a large hall. There were a large amount of seats placed in rows in front of a small stage. There were already a large amount of people seated in the hall, quietly chatting with each other.

“Of course I will. If I don't won't that mean that Senior sister Mei has wasted her contribution points?”

Huang Ying and Xiao Mei walked over to a row in the back and sat down next to each other, chatting quietly as they waited for the lecture to start.

"Greetings students. I am Lin Dai, I am in charge of today's lecture. Today we will talk about what Qi is, as well as several theories that have popped up about Qi."

Not long after Huang Ying and Xiao Mei sat down, a graceful middle-aged woman walked up onto the stage. There were a few wrinkles on her face, but she had a special bearing that attracted people. She had short brown hair and was clad in a light green robe that hung loosely on her body.

"Let me ask you a question. What is Qi?"

The middle-aged woman pointed at a person sitting in the seats in front of her as she spoke, prompting him to stand up and answer the question.

"Qi is a form of energy that lingers in our surroundings and allows us to tap into our inborn element."

A male youth stood up straight and spoke in a loud and confident voice. Huang Ying did not recognize this person, so he seemed to have joined earlier than he did.

These people would obviously not believe that their elements were granted to them by other people. Their element was something they were born with, a gift from the universe itself. That was why they called it inborn element instead of blessings.

"Wrong. Qi is everything. When you see a tree, you are seeing a large amount of wood Qi that has gathered together, as well as plant Qi that has gathered together to form leaves."

Contrary to what people expected, the middle-aged woman immediately rejected what the male youth said, causing him to be slightly dumbstruck. The middle-aged woman indicated for the male youth to sit before she continued talking.

"When you see the ocean, you are only seeing an incomprehensibly large amount of water Qi that has gathered together. An inferno is just a large amount of fire Qi that has gathered together and started blazing."

While the middle-aged woman was talking, she raised her hands, causing fire to appear above her left hand, and water to appear above her right hand. After the fire and water appeared, she slowly dissolved it, causing it to turn into small dots of blue and red light that dissolved into the surrounding.

"Even the human body is formed out of Qi. It is only that we are incapable of seeing what types of Qi a human body is made of, we are also not capable of controlling this type of Qi, not even a Sovereign can."

"Since we know that everything is Qi, does that not mean that everything can be controlled, much like we control the Qi in the surroundings. Who is to say that there is not a person out there who was born with the power to control the Qi that a human's body is made of."

"Would such a person be considered a god amongst people? Capable of creating and destroying lives as he wished, with but a wave of his hand?"

When she reached this point, the eyes of the middle-aged woman gleamed with what could only be described as fanaticism.

"Let's step away from that train of thought for a second and look at something else instead. Why can't we change the Qi composition of things? Why can we not take the water Qi that the ocean is made of and turn it all into lightning Qi, creating an ocean of lightning?"

"What is it that is preventing us from doing this, what is holding all these large amounts of Qi together and preventing us from interacting with them?"

The woman's words caused a few whispers to rise up from the crowd as people started discussing. What she said was true, they could use fire to boil away the ocean water, but they could not change the ocean into fire, only replace it.

"Is it not the Three Great Gods?"

While people were discussing, a voice rang out from a girl in the seats, causing everyone to cast their eyes to the middle-aged woman, waiting for her reply.

"Three Great Gods? Let me tell you something. There are no gods, only stronger people. What if those Three Great Gods are just people from ancient times who cultivated to reach that stage?"

The middle-aged woman sneered in response as she replied. She had never believed in any gods, she only believed in the efforts of people.

"But they control Life, Death, and Reincarnation on this planet!"

The girl couldn't help but call out again. Everyone knew that there were three gods on this planet that controlled life, death, and reincarnation.

"Something they can do because they are stronger than the people on this planet. What if there was a person that cultivated to a level higher than even those Three Great Gods? Would he still be subject to their rules?"

The middle-aged woman sneered again, her words causing the blood of the people listening to boil. Not even Sovereigns could escape the control of the Three Great Gods. What if they reached such a level? Did such a level even exist?

The middle-aged woman continued talking, and Huang Ying sat at the back of the hall in silence, carefully listening to every word she spoke, making sure that he remembered them all.

Huang Ying and Xiao Mei left the hall after the lecture ended. Most students stayed behind to discuss what they had just heard and give their own opinions, but Xiao Mei figured that doing something like that was a little too advanced for Huang Ying.

“There you are brother Ying. I have been looking all over for you.”

Just as Xiao Mei was about to grab Huang Ying's arm once more, a soft voice rang out not far from them. Xiao Mei and Huang Ying turned their head, Huang Ying heaving a stealthy sigh of relief.

Fang Shan walked over to them from the side, a faint smile on her face. Huang Ying had kept in contact with her through the white jade tokens they were given upon entering the academy. Not long ago she had gotten a message from him, asking her to come to a certain location and pretend like they had plans, forcibly dragging him away.

“Unless I remember incorrectly, this should be Senior Sister Mei? I am terribly sorry, but me and Huang Ying have not yet had time to celebrate that we both entered the same academy, so I must abduct him for a bit.”

Fang Shan had a sweet smile on her face, cupping her hands at Xiao Mei, before grabbing Huang Ying's hand and dragging him away from Xiao Mei. To the people looking at it from a distance, it looked just like a jealous girlfriend taking back her man.

Before Xiao Mei even had time to respond, Fang Shan had pulled Huang Ying after her and left the area, heading towards the cultivation areas. Once Fang Shan had dragged Huang Ying away a good distance and made sure that no one was watching, she let go of his hand and looked at him with a smirk.

“We only just arrived here and the academy idol is already trying to claim you, aren't you the popular one? And what is up with your hair?”

Fang Shan couldn't help but tease Huang Ying. In the time they had traveled together, Huang Ying was always calm and collected, this was the first time she had ever seen him with such a helpless expression. She also couldn't help but comment on his hair, which had suddenly turned a pure white.

“An accident happened while I was forging my weapon. And im the popular one? What about how Zhouyun looked at you before we even entered the academy, you sure you aren't the popular one?”

Huang Ying shrugged his shoulders as he spoke, a smirk creeping up on his smile as he returned Fang Shan's teasing back to her. He had seen how Zhouyun swept Fang Shan with his gaze after they finished the last test.

“Don't mention him, he is far too annoying. He keeps popping up at my cottage to 'give me advice on cultivation'.”

Fang Shan's smirk vanished when she heard Huang Ying mention Zhouyun. She couldn't help but rub her temples as she remembered how Zhouyun kept approaching her. He always came up with a good excuse and acted like a good Senior Brother, but how could Fang Shan not know what he really wanted.

“So what's up with that Xiao Mei? I doubt she was captivated by your looks and stunning personality, falling in love at first sight.”

After rubbing her temples, Fang Shan opened her mouth and turned to Huang Ying again. Fang Shan had learned from Zhouyun that Xiao Mei had an exalted status in the academy, there was no way she would simply fall in love at first sight with someone like Huang Ying.

“I don't know. She started approaching me the moment we met, and she is overly friendly. I suspect that either she or someone behind her is planning something. I just don't know what they are planning.”

Huang Ying shook his head with a sigh. If he knew what Xiao Mei was planning, he could at least start figuring out a plan on how to deal with it. But the problem was that he knew nothing, only that it seemed like Xiao Mei was intent on growing closer to him.

“How do you plan on dealing with her?”

After a short moment of silence, Fang Shan spoke up again. They did not know exactly how much Xiao Mei knew about them, and she was also much stronger than them. They would have to be very careful in how they handled this.

“I don't have much choice but playing along with her for the moment. After the tournament in one month end, we can take on missions and leave the academy, so it will be easier to handle her incessant dragging around then. Of course, once it gets too annoying, i'll just call you up and have you come save me.”

Huang Ying shrugged his shoulders once more and ended his sentence with a chuckle. Huang Ying did not intend on earning contribution points through taking on jobs like herb gathering or librarian inside the academy, finishing missions was a much better way.

Taking on missions would also let him leave the academy, allowing him to not have to worry about hiding his full power, unless he took on a mission with other people of course.

Fang Shan and Huang Ying continued to walk around the academy together, just wandering aimlessly as they talked about anything that came to mind. When they had nothing to talk about, they would just walk without talking, enjoying the silence.

Once the sun started setting, they split up and returned to their own cottages. The days leading up to the newcomer tournament consisted of Huang Ying being dragged around by Xiao Mei.

Once he got tired of Xiao Mei dragging him around, he would send a message to Fang Shan and have her come drag him away from Xiao Mei, giving him a good excuse to leave. Sometimes it was Zhao Feng who came to his aid, dragging Huang Ying away from Xiao Mei and to the arena to watch some fights.

Of course, Huang Ying never halted his cultivation. While they only had one free hour of cultivation in the cultivation areas per month, he could still cultivate in his cottage. He would spend the nights sitting cross legged on his bed, regulating his breathing and slowly absorbing the Qi in the area, steadily rising his cultivation grade.

This pattern continued all the way up to the last day of the month, when the newcomers to the academy would show off their skills and find out where on the ranking list they would end up.

Huang Ying opened his eyes not long after the sun started rising. He stood up from the bed and took a quick shower, changed into a clean robe and then went to the restaurant to eat a nice breakfast in silence.

In not too long, the competition for the newcomers to the academy would start. But Huang Ying did not care too much, this competition was not for him. He could not show his full strength so he would of course not get a good ranking, it was much more likely that he would have to pretend to lose several battles, getting humiliated in the process.

“Alright, let's get this over with.”

After finishing a simple breakfast consisting of some stew and bread, Huang Ying stood up and muttered to himself with a sigh. Pretending to be weak was stifling, he hated it. He did not show it too much, but he had his own pride, pride in himself and his strength. Being subservient and pretending to lose was not a good feeling.

“Ready to get this over with?”

After leaving the restaurant and following the path towards the arena, Huang Ying found Fang Shan standing on the path, waiting. When she spotted him, she walked over and gave him an apologetic look.

She had spent around one and a half month with him already, so how could she not know that he had his own pride? How could she not see that pretending to be this weak was hard on him? She could show off all her strength and become more well known in the academy, but he would have to pretend to be someone weak that could be stepped on.

But she also found that she looked forward to the day he no longer had to hide, the day he could explode with his full power. She wanted to see that day, see the expression on people's face as he struck down with his full might, showed his brilliance and might.

“Yeah, let's go.”

Huang Ying shrugged his shoulders and gave a wry smile. The two of them kept on walking down the path, shoulder to shoulder, chatting about everyday things to pass the time. There were several other students on the path, some were newcomers like them, while others were people who were heading to the arena to spectate the competition.

“Ah. Junior Brother Ying, Junior Sister Shan. Good morning to you.”

Not far from the arena, Huang Ying and Fang Shan encountered Zhouyun, who was walking with Bai Jing and Yuan Qiu. Zhouyun spotted the two of them out of the corner of his eye, so he turned around and gave them a pleasant greeting.

“Greetings Senior Brother Zhouyun.”

The two of them did not like Zhouyun, but they could not show too much discourtesy, so they both cupped their hands and returned a polite greeting.

“What a surprise Junior Brother Ying, I was sure that you would show up with Junior Sister Mei today.”

Zhouyun turned to Huang Ying and spoke with a faint smile, letting his gaze drift between Fang Shan and Huang Ying. Ever since he noticed how Xiao Mei treated Huang Ying, he had done his best to sow discord between Huang Ying, Fang Shan, and Xiao Mei.

“I was certain that Senior Sister Mei had more important matters to attend to, so how could I possibly invite her?”

Huang Ying put on a polite smile and slightly shook his head, letting out a small laugh as he spoke. He noticed Bai Jing snickering at him, while Yuan Qiu slightly narrowed his eyes at him, but he pretended to not see anything.

“I see, that certainly makes sense. You must be careful today Junior Brother Ying, once you enter the arena, no one can help you and everyone will be watching you. I am afraid that your strength will not allow you to rank very high. I will try to keep an eye out for you, but I cannot promise anything.”

Zhouyun spoke with a very understanding tone. He even placed his hand on Huang Ying's shoulder and put on a concerned face, pretending like he was worrying for Huang Ying's well being.

“There is no need for you to worry about that Zhouyun. Any friend of mine does not need someone like you to keep an eye on them.”

Just as Huang Ying was about to respond, a disgruntled voice rang out from behind them. When they turned their heads, Huang Ying was surprised when he spotted Xin Yang walking over. He had sent Xin Yang several messages, but he had never received a reply, so he assumed that Xin Yang was still cultivating.

Of course, what shocked him even more than just Xin Yang appearing now was his current cultivation level. When they parted ways, Xin Yang had only reached the 9th Heaven, but the Xin Yang in front of him now was already half a step into the Yin-Yang Formation realm.

If someone told Huang Ying that Xin Yang had reached this cultivation level in such a short time through normal cultivation, he would laugh in their faces. It was clear that Xin Yang had returned to his clan to undergo a special type of cultivation after leaving the Vast Plains Ruins.

“So it's Junior Brother Yang. Since Junior Brother Ying is one of your friends, I hope that you will make sure to take good care of him.”

Seeing Xin Yang, it was not just Huang Ying that was surprised. Zhouyun's pupils shrank when he spotted Xin Yang, the corners of his mouth even twitched slightly. He quickly regained his cool and put on a pleasant smile. He cupped his hands and gave a polite greeting, but as soon as he finished his words, he turned around to leave. It was clear that Zhouyun did not want to stay around Xin Yang for long.

“Tch, two faced slime-ball. I got your messages Brother Ying, but I did not get the chance to reply to them as I only left cultivation this morning. I really can't imagine how hard it is for you to do this.”

Seeing Zhouyun leaving, Xin Yang clicked his tongue and spat out an insult. He turned to Huang Ying and placed his hand on his shoulder, feeling rather apologetic as he spoke. He had gotten several messages from Huang Ying, some which were just updates on things that had happened, and some that were questions, but he had not answered a single one.

“It's not much of a problem.”

Huang Ying shook his head with a wry smile. They were obviously talking about Huang Ying hiding his strength, but they could not say it out loud, just in case someone was eavesdropping, as there were still students walking past them.

“Greetings Sister Shan. I must say that I am slightly surprised that you too chose to join this academy.”

Xin Yang turned to Fang Shan and cupped his hands in greeting. Despite him giving her a token that would let her take the entrance test, he never expected Fang Shan to join Eastern Wind Academy. Most Demonic beasts preferred to travel around the world, even faintly looking down on people who joined academies and clans for resources.

“We quite enjoy each others company, and Eastern Wind was the best option at the time.”

Fang Shan shrugged her shoulders with a nonchalant expression. Joining Eastern Wind would give her access to more resources, and it would also allow her to travel beside Huang Ying.

“I see, that is good then, it means that I get to have another friend here.”

Hearing her reply, Xin Yang let out a laughter and led Huang Ying and Fang Shan into the arena, finding a seat not far from the actual platforms where the fighting would take place.

“How did your cultivation rise so drastically?”

Fang Shan couldn't help but ask Xin Yang after they sat down. His cultivation had simply risen far too fast, almost completely skipping the Xiantian realm.

“I returned to the clan to accept the ancestral baptism, that's how I manged to raise it so quickly.”

Xin Yang did not respond immediately, seemingly carefully choosing his words, before he responded. He was forbidden from saying too much, but he figured that just saying that it was the ancestral baptism did not break the clan rules.

“Ancestral baptism?”

Fang Shan raised her eyebrow slightly as she questioned. Huang Ying sat next to her, placing half his concentration on listening to their conversation. The other half was used to sweep the people in the arena, taking in everything. He spotted Zhouyun sitting not too far away from him. Zhao Feng, Xiao Mei, and Zhihao were also sitting in the seats around the arena.

“I am forbidden from saying too much about it, as it involves secrets belonging to the ancestors of the clan.”

Xin Yang had an apologetic smile as he shook his head. He really couldn't say too much. If he said too much, it would not end with him just being expelled from the clan.

“In that case, just forget about it.”

Fang Shan shrugged her shoulders in response. She could see that Xin Yang was truly apologetic, so it was obvious that he did not just make it up as an excuse to not say anything.

“I will be the judge for this competition, you can call me Elder Tian. The rules for this competition are very simple. All the newcomers have been given a ranking on the Sky Ranking.”

While they were chatting, an old man clad in a light green robe entered the central platform in the arena and spoke to the spectators. The old man had wrinkly skin, but his black hair was long and glossy, looking very youthful.

As he spoke, he waved his hand and caused a large list to appear in the air above him. The words Sky Ranking were written at the top of the list in bold letters. Huang Ying searched quickly scanned the list and couldn't help but shake his head with a bitter smile when he finished reading it.

Zhao Feng was ranked 9975, one of the better ones of the newcomers. Fang Shan was ranked 9988, closer towards the bottom. But Huang Ying himself was ranked 10 000, at the very bottom. He of course knew that this was because he had the lowest cultivation of all the newcomers, still only being at the early stage of the Xiantian realm.

“You will proceed to challenge someone else on the Sky Ranking, whether they are a newcomer or not does not matter, if you beat them and they had a higher rank than you, you will switch places in the ranking. If they had a lower ranking than you, nothing will change on the ranking list.”

“Now then, who wishes to be the first to challenge someone?”

The old man finished his words and turned towards the spectators, sweeping them with his gaze. He did not care about who started the competition, as he did not think that this competition was very important.

A short silence descended upon the arena after the old man's words sounded out. Out of the corner of his eye, Huang Ying spotted Zhouyun whispering something to Bai Jing. Huang Ying couldn't help but sigh, a bad feeling welling up in his chest.

“I guess I will have to do it then. I would like to challenge Junior Brother Ying to join me in the arena for a quick sparring match.”

Just as Huang Ying expected, Bai Jing jumped down from the seats and onto the arena. He wore a polite smile as he turned towards Huang Ying and cupped his hands.

Hearing Bai Jing's words, not just Huang Ying, even the other people watching felt like cursing out. Someone who had half a foot into the Yin-Yang Formation Realm was challenging someone at the early stage of the Xiantian realm, that was simply shameless and despicable.

“Huang Ying, enter the arena.”

Elder Tian cast a glance at Bai Jing, furrowing his brows in displeasure, even he felt that this was too shameless. But he still had his own rules to follow, so he had to make Huang Ying enter the arena and take part in the fight. He could reject the other challenges, but he had to accept the first one.

Huang Ying narrowed his eyes as he looked at Bai Jing, a sinister light flashing in his light as he considered whether or not he should just detonate the strand of devouring Qi he had placed into Bai Jing's world core. This Bai Jing was clearly targeting him on the orders of Zhouyun, planning on humiliating him.

Just as Huang Ying was about to throw caution to the wind and detonate the strand of Qi, he felt someone grab his hand. He turned his head to the side and saw Fang Shan shaking her head at him, a slightly worried expression on her face.

“You can't. If you do that, people will realize who you are. There is no telling what they will do once they learn your identity. Not to mention that you crippled a fellow student, they will kill you for that.”

Fang Shan used her Qi to send her words directly into Huang Ying's ears, making it so that only she could hear him. They had spent around one and a half month together, and had both grown very fond of each others company. So even though she would often jokingly insult Huang Ying, she still cared deeply for him, she did not want him to die here.

Huang Ying continued to look at Fang Shan for a short moment, before he took a deep breath and shook his head with a sigh. He stood up from his seat and jumped down to the nearest platform, walking towards the center platform.

“Really, when did I get so sentimental.”

Huang Ying couldn't help but mutter to himself as he walked towards the center platform. He knew that if he was still the same as he was right after he awakened his powers, he would have thrown caution to the wind and crippled Bai Jing, not caring what the punishment was. He couldn't help but wonder, when did he change?

“A sparring match against Senior Brother Jing, it would be my honor.”

Huang Ying stepped onto the center platform and cupped his hands at Bai Jing, speaking with a very courteous tone. The people watching couldn't help but let out silent sighs in admiration when they heard his response. It was clear that Bai Jing was doing this to humiliate him, but he still managed to act so calmly.

“No wonder you caught the eye of both Senior Sister Mei and Junior Sister Shan, you truly are special.”

Bai Jing had of course seen Fang Shan grab Huang Ying's hand before he jumped down onto the arena. Zhouyun made him do this because he wanted Bai Jing to humiliate Huang Ying in front of Xiao Mei and Fang Shan, so Bai Jing of course had to insult him a bit.

“You overpraise me.”

Yao Jun kept his courteous tone, pretending like he did not notice Bai Jing's obvious insult. After he finished speaking, he slightly bent his body, taking up a stance.

“Get ready Junior Brother Ying, I will start now.”

Seeing Huang Ying take his stance, Bai Jing spoke out one last time, warning Huang Ying. After his warning sounded, the temperature on the platform started quickly dropping and snow started appearing in the air around the platform as Bai Jing activated his Domain. Since Bai Jing was here to humiliate Huang Ying, he would obviously use his full strength.

After Bai Jing set up his Domain, he immediately moved into action. He caused small rods of ice to shoot up from beneath his feet at an angle, propelling his body forward at high speed, and sent a punch towards Huang Ying's chest.

Seeing this punch, Huang Ying felt like letting out a sigh. If he were allowed to fight properly, he could easily dodge this punch. But since he could not show all his power, he would be forced to take this punch head on and pretend to lose immediately.

He raised his arms and placed them in front of his chest, putting on a panicked expression. Bai Jing's fist landed on Huang Ying's arms, and Huang Ying's body was sent flying backwards, not stopping until it hit the wall beneath the seats.

“You truly have great strength Senior Brother Jing, I am not match for you.”

Huang Ying pretended to be dizzy after hitting the wall, even forcing up a mouthful of blood and having it drip down the corner of his mouth. He shakily cupped his hands to Bai Jing and quickly admitted defeat before returning to his seat.

Sitting back in his seat, Huang Ying's expression was completely calm, like nothing had happened. But there was a fire smoldering in his chest. He wanted to fight Bai Jing, to use all his strength to utterly crush Bai Jing.

He also wanted to do the same to Zhouyun, but he could not. He was too weak to kill Zhouyun, and he could not let others learn about his strength and identity. So all he could do for now was endure it all.

“One day you will get to brutally kill them both.”

While Huang Ying was smoldering in silent rage, he once more felt a hand land on his, a soft voice entering his ears. He turned his head towards Fang Shan once more. She held an encouraging smile on her face, but there was a terrifying brutality brewing in her eyes.

She too wanted to kill Bai Jing and Zhouyun, after all, they kept humiliating Huang Ying. But she also knew that both of them had enraged Huang Ying, so there was no way for the two of them to have a pleasant death.

“Bai Jing wins this match. Huang Ying. As the loser, you will be the next person to challenge someone.”

Elder Tian's voice rang out not long after Huang Ying sat down.

“I would like to forfeit my right to challenge others. I am afraid that my strength is the weakest here.”

Huang Ying turned towards Elder Tian and cupped his hands as he spoke. He was the only person here at the early stage of the Xiantian realm, so there was no one he could challenge and beat. Not with the strength he showed at least.

“Very well. Then I will now appoint someone else to enter the arena.”

Elder Tian turned to Bai Jing, who was still standing in the arena, as he spoke, indicating for him to leave. Bai Jing hurriedly left the platform and returned to his seat, but his eyes would occasionally glance at Huang Ying.

Others might not have noticed, but he most certainly did. He knew that his punch did not damage Huang Ying, at least not enough for blood to appear at the corners of his mouth. When his fist landed on Huang Ying's arms, he felt like he had punched a stone, a normal person at the early stage of the Xiantian realm should not have such a tough body.

The judge, Elder Tian, pondered in silence for a short moment before he pointed at one of the new students and shouted out. The competition would go on for a total of three days. One the first two days, the new students would be challenging each other, but on the third day, they could challenge whoever they wanted on the Sky Ranking.

Sun Jin quickly entered the stage. Sun Jin was female who seemed to be a little over 20 years old. She was clad in a light yellow robe and had long, jade green hair. She had smooth and clean skin, and delicate features.

“Chang Huo, get down here.”

Sun Jin pointed at a male youth with blazing red hair sitting in the spectators seats next to where she had sat and called out to him. The male youth had a lazy expression on his face as he hopped down from the seats and sauntered into the arena.

“Come on now Little Jin, this is just pointless, I really don't want to fight you.”

The male youth shook his head, still keeping his lazy expression, as he spoke, instantly causing Sun Jin's expression to turn gloomy. They were both at the late stage of the Xiantian realm, but it was clear that he did not take her seriously in this battle. She did not waste any more words on him, quickly taking on a stance.

After Sun Jin took her stance, light yellow Qi started seeping out from her body and into the surroundings. The light yellow Qi quickly solidified, turning into several copies of Sun Jin, each standing in the same pose as the real Sun Jin.

“Really now, Little Jin. How many times must I tell you that these tricks are only useful if you do them either before the battle starts, or use it in the midst of an attack. Doing it like this is pointless.”

Chang Huo still held the same lazy expression, he hadn't even bothered taking up a stance to prepare himself. Sun Jin ignored his words and charged towards him, all her clones charging at the same time as her. As they charged forward, all the different Sun Jin's started interweaving between each other, making it difficult to know who the real one was.

Before she had made it even half way to Chang Huo however, a loud explosion sounded out and Chang Huo's body shot forward like a bolt of lightning. After Chang Huo's body shot forward, all but one of the Sun Jin's vanished.

The only Sun Jin that was left was being tightly embraced by Chang Huo in a bear hug. Chang Huo moved his head and gave Sun Jin a quick kiss on the lips, causing a slight blush to spread on her face as she sent an embarrassed glare at Chang Huo..

“Come now, I told you that I didn't want to fight you.”

Chang Huo could only respond with a bitter smile as he let go of Sun Jin. After he let go of her body, he grabbed her hand and the two of them walked back to their seats. Huang Ying couldn't help but blink a few times when he saw this.

From their earlier words, it sounded like this Sun Jin considered Chang Huo her rival, but now it seemed like they were a couple instead. Huang Ying shook his head and didn't bother thinking more about it, he was much more interested in how the two of them used their Qi.

People who had the same element would use it in different ways. Sun Jin had the light element, but instead of using it for speed, she used it to bend the light around her to create illusions.

Chang Huo had the fire element, he even used it in a rather similar way as Huang Ying, compressing it. But where Huang Ying compressed it to give it a greater penetrating power, Chang Huo compressed it to get an instantaneous boost in power. He managed to move like a bolt of lightning by compressing the fire element beneath his feet and then quickly expanding it, creating an explosion.

“Chang Huo. Select your opponent.”

Seeing the two people return to their seats, the corner of Elder Tian's mouth slightly twitched. Did Chang Huo not know that it was his turn to select an opponent?

“No need, I can't be bothered to take part in this.”

Chang Huo sat down on his seat and waved his hand in a lazy manner, causing the corner of Elder Tian's mouth to twitch once more. In the previous years, people were almost fighting over the chance to get to challenge the other students.

“Very well. Meng Gengxin, enter the arena and choose an opponent.”

Elder Tian quickly regained his calm, turning towards a different person in the spectator seats, a male youth with long black hair and clad in a violet robe. The male youth, Meng Gengxin hopped down from the seats and entered the arena, pondering in silence for a short moment before choosing an opponent.

Huang Ying and Fang Shan continued to watch the fights take place, occasionally discussing people or techniques if they felt that they were special. The rest of the time they just sat there and talked about everyday things.

Huang Ying found one female youth that used a technique he found very interesting. She had the earth element, but she used it in a very strange way. Whereas most earth element users would use the might of the earth itself, using the ground beneath the opponent against them or sending large boulders at them, she used a myriad of tiny particles instead.

She would summon a large boulder and force it to divide itself into tiny particles, turning the entire boulder into dust. She would then propel the dust around at high speeds, giving it both great range and penetrating power. To finish the fight, she even gathered up all the dust in a small area and used a rock to create a tiny spark, setting off a dust explosion and heavily injuring the opponent.

Fang Shan was not called out for a battle that day, but Zhao Feng was. Zhao Feng used the earth element in the standard way, causing tremors and sending forth large boulders and spikes from the ground. His opponent was ready for this however and would constantly dodge, using his own wind element to read the changes in the wind around him, finding out exactly from where Zhao Feng was attacking.

Because of this Zhao Feng was forced to bring out a technique that Huang Ying found that he greatly desired, a technique he did not even know that the earth element had, gravity control. Zhao Feng could only control the gravity in a small area, and only alter it slightly, but it was enough to greatly slow down his opponent, allowing him to get close and pummel him until he surrendered.

When the second day of the newcomer competition rolled around, Huang Ying left his cabin early in the morning and headed over to Fang Shan's cabin. The two of them then headed over to the restaurant together, eating the light breakfast that the academy offered for free.

“Who do you intend to challenge today?”

After eating the breakfast, they met up with Xin Yang and Zhao Feng, the four of them heading over to the arena. While they were walking, Huang Ying tilted his head at Xin Yang and asked.

He had noticed yesterday that the judge, Elder Tian, would from time to time call out people who had yet to enter the arena, forcing them to enter the arena and initiate a fight. Neither Fang Shan nor Xin Yang had entered the arena yesterday, so he figured that the both of them would be forced to enter it today, as the third day was completely voluntary, only for challenging the older students.

“No one. I don't need to take part in the newcomer tournament. Even if I did, I would not be given a rank on the Sky Ranking.”

Xin Yang shrugged his shoulders in response, giving a nonchalant answer. Seeing that the others looked at him with a mixture of surprise and confusion, he decided to elaborate.

“My grandfather holds a Grand Elder position, so I was accepted into the academy with special privileges. Xiao Mei has the same privileges, only that she has them because her grandfather is the Vice-Principal.”

With his grandfather being a Grand Elder, it was of course very easy for Xin Yang to enter Eastern Wind Academy, which is why he could join them even while he was only at the Nine Heavens of Houtian realm.

But Eastern Wind did not allow these students with special privileges to take part in the different Rankings, afraid that people would slander them and say that those students had only achieved their rank because of their connections.

“Tch, lucky bastard.”

Huang Ying couldn't help but click his tongue and murmur. If he could choose to not take part in this competition, he would of course choose not to take part. Who wanted to take part in something where they would only end up humiliated?

While they were walking and talking, they entered the arena and found their seats. The other seats in the arena were also starting to fill up, with most of them already filled. Elder Tian was already standing in the center platform, hands behind his back as he waited patiently.

“I do not believe that I need to repeat the rules, so we will simply start the battles immediately. Fang Shan, enter the arena and choose an opponent.”

Elder Tian did not waste any time, speaking out the moment people stopped entering the arena. He brought out a small book and gave it a quick look over before resting his eyes on Fang Shan and calling her out.

Fang Shan hopped down from the seats and entered the center platform, a smirk slowly appearing on her face. Huang Ying recognized this smirk, because he himself had worn a similar one on three occasions.

The first time was right after he awakened his powers and entered the bandit hideout. The second time was when he attacked and killed the patriarchs in Yellow Winds Town. The third time was the day he entered the Spatial Array and left the Green Willows continent. Whenever that smirk popped up, it was clear that somebody was about to have a bad time.

“Bai Jing, come down here and let me play with you for a bit.”

Fang Shan turned to Bai Jing, sending him a smile as she reached out with her hand and beckoned him over. Bai Jing was slightly shocked, but he seemed to have understood something, as he sent a quick look at Huang Ying, his lips cracking into a smile.

While Bai Jing left the seats and entered the center platform, Huang Ying slightly leaned forward, an interested expression on his face. He wasn't worried for Fang Shan, not in the slightest. Fang Shan had inherited the Qi that belonged to her father, so her training speed could only be called monstrously fast.

In the one month that they had spent in the academy, she had already reached the late stage of the Xiantian realm, striding towards the Yin-Yang Formation realm. He also knew that Fang Shan would not start a battle that she had no chance of winning.

One also had to remember that she was a Demonic beast, so while her human form might be strong, she would only become stronger upon entering her Demonic beast form. Not even Huang Ying knew what type of Demonic beast Fang Shan was, but since she had the blood of the Azure Dragon, there was no way that it was something weak.

Bai Jing entered the center platform, standing a short distance away from Fang Shan, his face still carrying the same arrogance he had when he first met Huang Ying. A short moment after Bai Jing entered the arena, Elder Tian waved his hand, indicating for them to start battling.

The moment Elder Tian waved his hand, Bai Jing unleashed his Domain, causing the temperature of the platform to drop as snow started appearing in the air. He dashed towards Fang Shan, but Fang Shan simply stood there, her lips curled into a smile.

When Bai Jing got closer to Fang Shan, a blue light burst out from Fang Shan's body, quickly forming a small bubble around the platform. After the blue bubble formed, the snow that was formed from Bai Jing's Domain started melting.

What replaced the snow were blue arcs of lightning and the rumbling sound of thunder, bolts of lightning flashing around within the blue bubble. The bolts of lightning all converged towards the body of the dashing Bai Jing, who was currently tremendously shocked.

“Domain?!”

Bai Jing couldn't help but shout out as he dodged the bolts of lightning. He had a lucky encounter not long after he reached the peak of the Xiantian realm, which was what allowed him to activate his Domain before reaching the Yin-Yang Formation realm. How was it that this woman was capable of doing the same thing?

Fang Shan did not bother responding to him, her figure turning into a blur as started moving, dodging all of Bai Jing's attacks. She figured that she would be able to beat Bai Jing in a normal battle, but it would exhaust a lot of her energy while also possibly wounding her. She did not want to just beat Bai Jing, she wanted to completely crush him. So she chose a different approach to the battle.

She did not move towards Bai Jing, instead choosing to dodge all of his attacks as she slowly moved around the arena. While she dodged around the arena, she used her finger nail to cut a wound on one of her palms, dripping her blood wherever she moved.

She continued to dodge Bai Jing's attacks for over five minutes, making sure that her blood had dripped around the entire arena. Bai Jing was still fully focused on sending a barrage of attacks after Fang Shan, not noticing that Elder Tian had already backed away and left the center platform.

This was the superiority of the lightning element, it's speed. Bai Jing's Domain was indeed capable of slowing down Fang Shan, removing her speed advantage. But since he had lost his cool when Fang Shan brought out her own Domain, he forgot to bring out his Domain once more.

After Fang Shan made sure that her blood had formed a small trail around the entire platform, even crisscrossing across it in strange patterns at places, she moved towards Bai Jing. Bai Jing thought that she had finally decided to face him in a proper battle, but she only dashed forward and smeared her bloody palm on his chest.

After she smeared her bloody palm on his chest, she raised her other arm to block his incoming punch. The punch sent a chill into her arm, nearly freezing her bone, but the smile on her face only grew wider. She used the force from the punch to send herself backwards, towards the edge of the platform.

She sent a large smile towards Bai Jing, before placing both of her hands onto the trail of blood she had left behind, injecting all her Qi into it. The trail of blood slowly lit up with a blinding blue light, the sound of thunder rumbling out, threatening to deafen everyone inside the arena.

Bai Jing now realized that something was wrong, but before he had the chance to react, the entire trail of blood lit up with the blue light. After the entire trail of blood lit up, it formed into a large array that covered the entire platform. Bolts of lightning that were the thickness of a grown man's thigh appeared around Bai Jing, connecting with that smear of blood that Fang Shan had left on his chest.

The bolts of lightning turned into chains that prevented Bai Jing from moving, holding him down in place. More and more bolts of lightning started appearing above his body, forming into a single, massive bolt of lightning that loomed above him like an executioners axe.

Once the bolt of lightning was as thick as a man's waist, it fell down on Bai Jing, resulting in a blinding flash of light and a deafening clap of thunder. After the flash of light vanished, Bai Jing was still standing in the arena, but his body was obviously badly burned, all his clothes turned to ash and his skin charred and cracked.

His body fell forward, all his limbs numb and paralyzed, crashing to the ground with a dull thud. Fang Shan happily walked over to his body, bending down next to his head and whispering into his ear.

“Don't worry, it won't kill you, I made sure of that. Your head is his to take.”

After whispering into his ears, she sent a smile and a nod at Elder Tian, before leaving the arena and returning to the seat next to Huang Ying. The entire arena was shrouded in silence for a short while as people moved their eyes between Fang Shan and Bai Jing's body.

“An array? Nice and flashy. I didn't even know that you had knowledge of arrays, or that you had managed to activate your own Domain.”

Huang Ying couldn't help but raise one eyebrow in surprise, his lips curling into a faint smile as he commented. He had speculated on how Fang Shan would defeat Bai Jing, but he never expected her to quickly set up an array and use it to defeat him. He didn't even know that she had knowledge of arrays.

“Isn't it nice and flashy? And if I had told you earlier, I would have missed out on the opportunity to see your surprised face.”

Fang Shan let out a clear laugh, ignoring the gazes that were moving between her petite body and Bai Jing's scorched body. Elder Tian called over a medical team that put Bai Jing's body on a stretcher and took him away from the arena. He was wounded pretty badly, but since he wasn't crippled or dead, they would not say anything.

After Fang Shan's battle against Bai Jing, Elder Tian continued to call out people who had yet to participate in a battle. Since Huang Ying had already taken part in one battle, and then forfeit his right to challenge others, he was not called out, nor challenged.

“Zhao Feng, get down here and fight me.”

After a few battles had taken place, a delicate male youth clad in light pink robes entered the center platform and called out to Zhao Feng. Huang Ying had some memories of this youth, as he had entered the arena on the first day as well. His name was Tao Wen and he used the water element.

“It seems like you are looking to get a good beating. Then don't mind my rudeness.”

Zhao Feng let out a loud laugh and hopped down from the seats and entered the center platform. He knew this Tao Wen even before they entered the academy, they could be considered to have grown up together. They had always fought against each other, Tao Wen trying to beat Zhao Feng and prove that he was stronger.

“You can begin.”

Elder Tian waved his hand, and Zhao Feng immediately stopped his laughter, focusing on the fight. He would always make sure that he was fully focused during any battles, no matter how weak the opponent was, as a single mistake could cost him his life.

Zhao Feng was at the middle stage of the Xiantian realm, while Tao Wen was at the late stage of the Xiantian realm. But neither of them were like Bai Jing or Fang Shan, who had managed to activate their Domain before reaching the Yin-Yang Formation realm.

Right after Elder Tian gave the signal, an earthen light seeped out from Zhao Feng's skin, covering his entire body like a defensive shell. Zhao Feng's speed was not very good, so he could not afford to cover his entire body in an armor made out of earth, as his speed would only drop further, making him little more than a sturdy punching bag.

Tao Wen on the other hand did not cover his body in a defensive layer of Qi, choosing to immediately dash towards Zhao Feng. The water element had strong defense, but Tao Wen was not proficient in using it to defend, he was more proficient in using it to soften his own body and increase his flexibility.

This was much like how Zhao Feng could not use his earth element to replicate the ability Huang Ying had seen on the first day, turning the earth to dust and using it to attack. Every person had their own way of utilizing their element, some could utilize one of the strengths of their element, while others could use a different one of those strengths, but not the other one.

Zhao Feng also started moving after the earthen light covered his body, dashing towards the approaching Tao Wen. Once they got closer to each other, Tao Wen punched out with his right arm, but it was clear that he was too far away for the attack to actually hit.

But while his arm was moving forward, a soft blue light covered his arm, causing the arm to extend by nearly half it's original length, causing the punch to land squarely on Zhao Feng's shoulder.

Huang Ying was not the only one surprised at this, as even Zhao Feng seemed to have been caught of guard. He quickly reacted and grabbed at Tao Wen's extended arm, but his fingers only managed to brush against his wrist before Tao Wen pulled his arm back.

Seeing his attempt at grabbing Tao Wen's arm fail, Zhao Feng took a large step forward and punched out with his other arm, aiming for Tao Wen's chest. Tao Wen seemed to have predicted this, as he twisted his entire body sideways, causing his waist to twist in a strange manner. Because he twisted his body like this, Zhao Feng's punch only grazed past Tao Wen's shoulder.

“You manage to infuse the properties of the water Qi into your skin and bones?”

The two of them backed away from each other, and Zhao Feng couldn't help but ask. The only way Tao Wen could extend his arm and twist his body like that was if he managed to infuse the flexibility of the water element into his own body.

Tao Wen did not answer him, only flashing him a wide grin. Zhao Feng couldn't help but sigh in admiration. Infusing the properties of an element into ones own body had nothing to do with cultivation, it required experimentation as well as a flash of insight.

Zhao Feng himself had not managed to infuse the strength of the earth element into his own body, there were even many elders in the Zhao clan who had not managed this yet. With the flexibility of the water element supporting his body, Tao Wen's body had gained a wide variety of new moves.

“But if you think that just that is enough to beat me, you are sorely mistaken.”

Zhao Feng flashed a grin of his own, snapping his fingers as he spoke. After he snapped his fingers, an earthen light lit up on Tao Wen's right wrist and right shoulder. Once the earthen light lit up, Tao Wen found his own wrist and shoulder to become almost unbearably heavy.

The right side of his body dropped down slightly, as he became unable to support their weight without using all his strength to hold it stead. He was shocked for a second, when he seemed to have noticed something, his face twisting into a grimace.

“You have learned to place gravity zones in different locations?”

Zhao Feng could control gravity in a small area, so it did not take Tao Wen much time to realize that Zhao Feng had probably altered the gravity in the two places he had touched. He was shocked because Zhao Feng had not been capable of this during their last fight.

“What, you think that only you can improve?”

Zhao Feng's mouth curled into a somewhat sinister grin as he walked towards Tao Wen. The closer he got, the stronger the gravity acting upon Tao Wen's wrist and shoulder got. Once Zhao Feng stood in front of him, it was already so strong that Tao Wen laid sprawled upon the ground, unable to stand up.

Tao Wen was unable to fight back, but since he had yet to admit defeat or get knocked out, Elder Tian did not call for the battle to stop. With Tao Wen unable to move, Zhao Feng proceeded punch and kick him until his face was completely unrecognizable. Only then did Zhao Feng kick him out from the arena and return to the seats.

With Zhao Feng returning to the seats, Xin Yang let out a slight chuckle as he commented. He had already won when Tao wen became unable to move, but he still choose to beat him up until he was unrecognizable.

“Tch, that pretty boy keeps following me around and challenging me to battles. Do you have any idea how hard it is to score with the ladies when you have someone much prettier than you following you.”

Zhao Feng shook his head and raised his shoulders in response, causing Xin Yang to almost burst out laughing. People like Zhao Feng, who were very straightforward and honest, were very easy to befriend.

Elder Tian waved his hand and was just about to call upon someone else to enter the arena, but his hand suddenly stopped while he was waving it. As his hand stopped, Huang Ying and a few others in the audience suddenly turned their heads towards the sky outside the arena, strange expressions on their faces. Huang Ying's face contorted into a grimace as he stared into the distance.

“What happened?”

Seeing Huang Ying's expression twist, it was not just Fang Shan who realized that something was up, Zhao Feng and Xin Yang also reacted quickly.

“It really seems like someone is trying to fuck with me.”

Huang Ying shook his head and sighed as he spoke, pointing at a spot in the sky outside of the arena. The others turned their heads and peered into the distance, noticing several large golden eagles rapidly approaching the arena.

Xin Yang and Zhao Feng looked at the golden eagles, but could not see the people on the back. Fang Shan was a Demonic beast, so her eyes were much stronger than Xin Yang's and Zhao Feng's allowing her to clearly see who was riding those eagles.

“Why the fuck are they here? Shouldn't the academy forbid them from entering?”

Fang Shan couldn't help but let out a low curse when she spotted the people on the back of the eagles. Fang Shan did not recognize all the people that were coming, but she managed to recognize two of them, Chen Chun and Shi Na.

She knew that Chen Chun and Shi Na both knew how strong Huang Ying was. She also knew that Shi Na considered Huang Ying her rival, so she would surely challenge him to a battle once she spotted him amongst the seats. If it was anyone from Eastern Wind challenging him, he could just reject the battle. But how would the academy react if he rejected a battle against someone from a rival academy? Would this not cause their own academy to look weak?

“Look, that Elder Tian has not reacted to their arrival, he even seems to be stepping backwards.”

Huang Ying spoke silently, pointing at Elder Tian while he spoke. There was no way that the elders in the academy would not know about these people arriving in their academy. Since they had allowed them to enter the academy, it clearly meant that they agreed to whatever these people were going to do.

The golden eagles arrived above the arena, slowly descending to the center platform and dropping off the people who were riding on their backs. There were six eagles, each one dropping off three people. Looking at their uniforms, it was not hard to realize that they came from the Four Clans as well as the two other academies.

Zhao Feng was pointing at the people standing at the forefront of each group, quietly introducing them to Huang Ying and Fang Shan. But Huang Ying looked like he had not even heard Zhao Feng's words, his eyes completely focused on the group of people from the Jing clan.

The group of people from the Jing clan consisted of three people, two women and one male. Huang Ying did not recognize two of them, but he could clearly recognize the third person, Jing He.

It had been about one years since he had last seen her, but in that year the both of them had changed greatly. His strength had grown greatly, his temperament had become a bit more mellow and retracted, no longer flaring up into rage immediately. He had also grown slightly taller, standing at around 1.8 meters in height now, and his hair had turned white.

She had also changed over the year. She was still clad in a loose, pink robe and her chestnut brown hair was still made up into a braid that went down to her waist. She had actually grown slightly taller than him, probably about a few centimeters.

Her face no longer had the same childish features she had when they first met, her emerald green eyes were no longer full of curiosity and energy, they had become cold and indifferent. She looked more like a graceful woman than the joyful girl she used to be. At the top of her braid, holding the entire thing together, was a yellow lotus hairpin, the same one he had bought for her just before they were separated.

“Is that her?”

Seeing Huang Ying staring at her so intently, Fang Shan could guess just who this woman was. Huang Ying nodded his head and retracted his gaze, letting out a slight sigh. He was relieved that she was fine, he had worried that something would happen to her after she was forcefully brought back to her clan.

Towards Jing He, he truly felt grateful, she had helped him during a time where he needed it, whether she knew it or not. When they first met, he used her as an anchor to hold onto what he perceived to be his own dwindling humanity. But his thoughts had changed over time as he met and interacted with more people.

Humanity was not something that could simply vanish because you became something more than human. Fang Shan herself was not a human, but she had more humanity than many other people Huang Ying had seen. Humanity was how you acted and treated the world around you. Trying to hold onto your humanity by relying on others was nothing but foolish, only you yourself could let you hold onto your humanity.

“Going to call out to her?”

Xin Yang couldn't help but ask when he saw Huang Ying lean back in his seat, not taking any actions. He had expected Huang Ying to call out to Jing He so that they could meet up again after a one year separation.

“No. Were I to call out to her now, how much attention would that attract? It would be best for me to stay a bit low now so that Shi Na does not spot me and try to challenge me.”

Huang Ying shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. He was much more relaxed after seeing that Jing He was fine. He was not in a hurry to meet up wit her just yet. With Jing He's position in her clan, it was clear that they would not allow her to be friends with just anyone. Who knew what the Jing clan would do if they learned that she was friends with a nobody from the Eternal Wind Academy? It was best to wait until he was stronger, strong enough to force everyone to shut their mouths.

Dai Hui from the Eternal Flame Academy stepped forward shortly after they landed, sweeping her eyes over the entire audience. She did not consciously release any Qi, but just her stepping forward brought with it a hot wind that assaulted the audience.

“I wonder, why have you people showed up in my Eastern Wind Academy?”

Zhouyun's rang out as he stepped down from the audience seats, a thin screen of water appearing like a protective layer in front of the audience. As Zhouyun stepped forward, small tufts of grass and flowers started blooming around his feet, he was clearly trying to show off his power.

“Zhouyun has dual elements, he can use both water and wood Qi. He mostly uses the wood Qi to produce different types of flowers and herbs, so he is very popular among some of the alchemists in the academy.”

While Zhouyun was confronting Dai Hui, Xin Yang whispered to Huang Ying, describing Zhouyun's elements. Dai Hui turned her eyes away from the audience and onto Zhouyun. Dai Hui was a slender woman, she had long azure hair and delicate features. Clad in a scarlet robe, she exuded charm.

“The competition for entering the Immortal's Garden will take place in another seven months, so we have come to scope out the strength of the possible participants.”

Dai Hui spoke out honestly, her voice calm and soothing. Since they had made it this far into the academy without being stopped, it was clear that the elders of the academy did not object to what they were doing.

“You say so, but why does it seem like you are ganging up on us instead?”

Zhouyun held a polite smile, his eyes sweeping over all the people that had arrived. Them arriving to scope out the strength of possible participants in the competition was normal, but it was highly irregular for the groups of the other overlords to arrive together.

“I am certain that you are just paranoid. Would you mind stepping back now? We are going to find some opponents.”

Dai Hui returned the polite smile, but her words caused the corner of Zhouyun's mouth to twitch. He was someone at the early stage of the Deity Heart realm, but he had just been asked to step back by a girl who was only at the peak of the Yin-Yang Formation realm.

But because of her position in the Eternal Flame Academy, he had no choice but to maintain his polite smile and step back. Seeing him step back, a smile blossomed on Dai Hui's face. The other people around her, except for Jing He, all began to scour the seats for people who seemed to have the strength to take part in the Immortal's Garden event.

Seeing the people scour the seats, inspecting all the students sitting in the audience, Huang Ying and Fang Shan both felt a sense of unease grow in their stomachs. The two of them matched eyes, giving each other a bitter smile.

Just as they expected, while Shi Na's eyes were roaming around the audience, her eyes spotted Huang Ying, lighting up with a ferocious battle intent. She didn't waste any time, stepping forward and pointing at Huang Ying.

“Huang Ying! Come down here and fight me again!”

Shi Na's voice rang out loud and clear, causing everyone else to follow her finger, their eyes landing on Huang Ying. The people with the strongest reactions were Jing He and Chen Chun, both of them staring intently at Huang Ying.

Chen Chun looked at him for a short moment before sighing and shaking her head. When she heard Shi Na shout out Huang Ying, she thought that she was talking about her younger brother. But the person Shi Na pointed at looked nothing like her younger brother. Chen Chun couldn't help but let out a little self deprecating laugh. Her brother was a person without any element, so how could he have showed up here?

Jing He on the other hand, kept looking intently at Huang Ying, her eyes lighting up as her face cracked into a smile. His hair had turned white and he had grown a little bit taller, but she could still recognize him. That purple plum blossom hairpin that stood out against his white hair only further proved his identity.

“How can I possibly have such dogshit luck?”

Seeing everyone look at him, Huang Ying couldn't help but mutter out a low curse. The people on the center stage looked at him with curious gazes, while the people sitting in the audience looked at him with gazes that told him to go out there and not lose face for their academy.

Huang Ying took a deep breath and stood up. He turned to face Shi Na and cupped his hands, a polite smile on his face as he spoke out.

“I'm sorry, but I am afraid that my strength is too low. If I were to go out now, I would only lose face, I will have to reject your challenge.”

His words rang out, causing the people watching to be slightly stunned. The people from the other six overlords were surprised, even slightly admiring, that he was able to admit that he was too weak to take on the challenge.

But the people from Eastern Wind were angry at him. Admitting defeat without even battling? Was that not the same as saying that their academy was too scared to face them in a battle? They couldn't help but look away in a mixture of disgust and anger.

As he spoke, he also gestured at Shi Na with his eyes, letting her know that he had his reasons for not fighting. Shi Na seemed to understand, as her eyes became disappointed. She shook her head with a sigh and spoke out again.

“I see, that is a shame then. One day I will find you so that we can have a proper fight again.”

Huang Ying sent a smile to Shi Na, a silent thanks, before he sat down again, the other people no longer bothering with him. As he sat down, his eyes moved slightly, matching Jing He's. His lips curled into a smile, before he raised a finger and put it over his lips, indicating for her to not say anything.

Jing He gave a quick nod of her head before turning her head away from Huang Ying, pretending like she had never seen him, but her lips had curled into a faint smile, her eyes no longer as cold as they were when she arrived.

“It seems like I am the one lagging behind here.”

After people stopped paying attention to him, Huang Ying couldn't help but shake his head and sigh. Fang Shan was now at the late stage of the Xiantian realm, Xin Yang had half a foot into the Yin-Yang Formation realm, Shi Na had somehow reached the late stage of the Xiantian realm, Zhao Feng was approaching the late stage of the Xiantian realm, and Jing He had already entered the Yin-Yang Formation realm.

All of them had made great progress in their cultivation, but he alone was still at the early stage of the Xiantian realm. He couldn't help but look forward to the end of this newcomer competition. Once it was over, he could leave the academy and go out on missions, once he left the academy, there would no longer be a need to hide.

They said that they had come to check out the strength of possible participants for the Immortal's Garden competition, but it was clear that they had come to show off their strength and unity. If they had truly come to check out the strength of possible participants, they would have challenged each other to learn each other's strengths.

But they did not, they only challenged people from Eastern Wind Academy. They only challenged people who were at the same cultivation level as them, but it was clear that they had made preparations in advance. Every person they challenged had the same cultivation level as them, but they were all people who had low combat strength or glaring weaknesses.

Because of this, every battle was won by the people from the six other overlords. Many people from Eastern Wind Academy had ugly expressions, which only grew uglier as the battles went on. They were students at Eastern Wind, so they obviously had some pride in the academy. Watching it get beat like this did not feel good for them.

Of course, not everyone was like this. Zhouyun for example still held a polite smile on his face, and Huang Ying and the others completely disregarded the fights, only paying attention to learn about the abilities of the opponents.

So what if they beat up people who had weak strength or glaring weaknesses? It was clear that they had chosen their opponents with great care before even arriving. None of the people they challenged were elites of the academy, they could only be called normal students. If they were to challenge the elites of the academy, there was no way they would have such easy fights.

Huang Ying especially paid attention to the fights that Chen Chun and the top six of the Rising Dragon List took part in. He paid attention to Chen Chun's fights because she was his sister, someone who had taken care of him while he was still a child. He paid attention to the top six of the Rising Dragon List because he wanted to see how they fought, see if he could learn their strengths and weaknesses.

Chen Chun was a student at Eternal Flame Academy, so she obviously used the fire element. But her fire element seemed to be a rather strange one, as it was not just limited to normal flames. At the start of the fight she used normal fire, but as the fight went on she also showcased a type of green fire that had corrosive properties, a light blue fire that had freezing capabilities, and a purple fire that seemed to contain poisonous properties.

The one ranked 6th on the list, Everlasting Yong Shuren, had a short and chubby stature, with long green hair. He had brown eyes that looked aged and wise, almost like the bark of an ancient tree. He used the wood element when he fought, but it was the way he used it that caught Huang Ying's interest.

He used the wood element to strengthen his body and engage his opponent in a bloody melee. He completely disregarded defense, letting all his opponent's attacks land on his body, repeatedly wounding him. But whenever he got a wound, his wood element Qi would swarm to the wound and heal it at a speed visible to the rapid eye. It was the first time Huang Ying had met anyone whose healing speed could match his own.

Ranked 5th on the list was Death's Kiss Xin Zexi, a man who was so handsome that he looked like a woman. His hair reached all the way down to his knees, it was light pink in color and looked as soft as silk. His features were soft and delicate, his eyes a deep purple in color.

He looked soft and delicate, but the way he fought showed how he got his title. The element he had was one that could be considered a subsidiary of the wood element, poison. With but a touch of his fingers, a pink aura would corrode his opponent, shutting down their organs and killing them if he did not show mercy.

Ranked 4th on the list was Beast Blood Zhao Suyin. Tall and rugged, his entire body covered in muscles and scars. His head was completely bald, four large scars going from the left side of his scalp to his right. His eyes were a deep red in color, like they were dipped in blood.

His element was one that Huang Ying had never even seen or heard about before, blood. He could use his Qi to not only control his own blood, but even the blood of his opponent if they were not careful. But he used a different way of fighting.

As the fight went on, he pulled out different vials of blood and smashed them against the ground, the blood taking the shape of the Demonic beast that the blood was harvested from. As the fight went on, a small horde of Demonic beasts made from blood attacked his opponent, quickly sending him flying.

Ranked 3rd on the list, Dark Dawn Tang Ling. Tang Ling was a tall and graceful woman, her every move exuding elegance and majesty. Her long hair was a mixture of white and black, each intertwining around each other as they co-existed. Her eyes followed the same pattern, one being white and the other being black.

Her elements were exactly those two elements, light and darkness. The speed of light was mixed with the corrosive and swallowing power of darkness, rendering her opponent's powerless with unsurpassed speed. She was even capable of slightly fusing the two elements, creating a black line of darkness that traveled faster than the eye could see.

Ranked 2nd on the list, Universe Hand Song Xue. Song Xue had silver hair that reached down to his shoulder and two black eyes that shimmered like stars. He had a normal stature and his body looked quite slim. His two hands were covered in a myriad of small scars, their skin coarse and rough.

Song Xue also used a very strange element. His Qi was a shimmering silver in color, it moved at the speed of lightning, but it struck with the force of a falling star, obliterating his opponent's defense. After finishing his fight, he walked over to Jing He and engaged in a bit of small talk, a pleasant and flattering smile on his face.

The last person to fight was the one who was ranked number 1 on the Rising Dragon List, Blooming Lotus Dai Hui. Her fight was also the quickest one, ending even faster than Tang Ling's fight. She only entered the arena and unleashed her domain, instantly rendering her opponent without the power to resist.

Dai Hui's domain was what gave her the title Blooming Lotus. When it appeared, it looked like a massive blue lotus bloomed in the arena. Were it not for the terrifying heat that the lotus was releasing, it would be a rather beautiful scene.

The group only arrived to show off their strength, so once they had each fought and won a battle, they mounted their golden eagles and left again. The only person who stayed behind was a young girl from the Jing clan, who swiftly ran to the side of Zhouyun, the both of them leaving the arena, chatting excitedly.

After the people from the six other overlords left, the mood within the arena turned rather gloomy, nearly everyone sitting in the seats having ugly expressions. Huang Ying and Fang Shan took this chance to leave the arena, but Xin Yang and Zhao Feng stayed behind.

Huang Ying and Fang Shan had no interest in the competition, but Zhao Feng still wanted to compete for a better ranking, while Xin Yang wanted to watch and learn about the strengths of the other students. After Huang Ying and Fang Shan left the arena, they wandered aimlessly around the academy grounds, chatting about everyday things.

After leaving the arena, Zhouyun took the girl from the Jing clan, Jing Qiu, with him for a walk around the academy. He grabbed onto her hand and the two of them walked all around the academy, chatting pleasantly with each other.

None of the wandering students that saw the two of them like this were surprised, it was clear that Zhouyun having a relationship with his girl from the Jing clan was common knowledge. Of course, even though he was already in a relationship, it did not stop him from pursuing other women, nor did it stop other women from pursuing him.

Cultivation extended a person's life, Sovereigns for example could live for several million years and look like they hadn't aged a day. Having more than one wife in this world was very common, even many mortals would marry more than one spouse, creating large families. For certain families that considered their bloodlines holy, they would even encourage marrying inside the family, hoping for their offspring to have an even purer bloodline.

After the two of them walked around for over two hours, they headed back to Zhouyun's private cabin. Jing Qiu did not waste any time after entering the cabin, pouncing on Zhouyun and kissing him all over, slowly removing his robe.

After the two of them enjoyed a few hours of pleasure together, Jing Qiu nuzzled up against Zhouyun's bare chest, a satisfied smile on her face. While she nuzzled her face against his chest, Zhouyun suddenly placed one of his fingers against Jing Qiu's temples.

As his finger touched her temple, a stream of purple Qi entered Jing Qiu's body, flowing directly into her head. After twitching and spasming for a short moment, Jing Qiu's eyes glazed over with a dull and unfocused look.

“What are the other six overlords planning?”

Seeing her eyes glaze over, Zhouyun's face cracked into a smile. He stood up and wandered around the room for a short moment, before he turned to the dazed Jing Qiu and started talking. It was clear that the other six overlords were now working together, maybe in an attempt to suppress Eastern Wind Academy, he wanted to know why.

“I don't know.”

Jing Qiu sat up on the bed, her voice was completely monotone, like she had turned into a puppet. Her words caused Zhouyun to slightly frown. He did not doubt her words, the way she was now, it was impossible for her to lie to him.

“Then what do you know about what you were doing here?”

Zhouyun spoke up again, changing the question. She could not lie to him, but it was up to him to ask the right questions.

“We were told to team up and head to Eastern Wind Academy and do our best to suppress the new students. We were warned that there was one person amongst the new students that we had to be wary of. If possible, we were to cripple or kill this person.”

Jing Qiu's eyes were devoid of any light, she simply sat there and stared straight ahead as she spoke.

“Who is this person?”

Zhouyun's eyes lit up as he heard her words. It was clear that the other six overlords had decided to team up against the Eastern Wind Academy because of this one person. But no matter how much he thought, he could not think of any of the new students that warranted such attention.

“I wasn't told, only the leaders of each group were told.”

“So you know fucking nothing! Forget it. You can lie down again.”

Hearing Jing Qiu's words, Zhouyun couldn't help but curse out. It was clear that the six other overlords were worried about word of their plans getting out, so they hadn't told everyone about the actual plans. Since she knew nothing, there was no point in continuing this questioning.

After Zhouyun spoke out, Jing Qiu stiffly laid down in bed again. Zhouyun also walked over to the bed and laid down next to Jing Qiu, covering the two of them with the blanket. He placed a finger on her temple, a stream of purple Qi leaving her body and entering his finger.

After the purple Qi left her body, her eyes regained their light again. She shook her head and looked around the room in confusion.

“What is it Little Qiu? Did you have a nightmare?”

Seeing her like this, Zhouyun's mouth curled up into a faint smile as he pulled Jing Qiu into an embrace, whispering softly into her ears.

“It's nothing Big Brother Zhouyun, I just didn't notice that I fell asleep.”

Jing Qiu nuzzled up against Zhouyun and spoke up in a sweet voice, causing the smile on Zhouyun's face to grow even larger as he couldn't help but think to himself. Of course you didn't notice, if you did, it would mean that my technique had failed and I would have to kill you.

–

When the third day of the newcomer competition rolled around, the mood inside the arena was much gloomier than it had been the previous two days. With the visit from the other six overlords yesterday, they had been completely humiliated, unable to win even a single fight.

Of course, none of this mattered to Huang Ying or Fang Shan, who had not even bothered showing up at the arena. The last day of the newcomer competition was the day where the newcomers could challenge the older students, it was completely voluntary.

“Any idea what type of mission you are going to undertake?”

Fang Shan and Huang Ying were both currently entering the Mission House, making small talk. Fang Shan was the one who asked the question. The two of them were entering the Mission House to see what type of missions they had to choose between.

“Not really. As long as the mission let's me leave the academy, i'm not too picky about the rest.”

Huang Ying shrugged his shoulders as he spoke, placing his hand on the large crystal pillar that showed all the missions they could choose from. One could put their perception into the crystal pillar to see all the information that it held within it. Of course, Huang Ying and Fang Shan only looked at the missions that had the Man difficulty, as the others were too risky for the current them.

Eastern Wind Academy offered missions of all types. Some missions required people to subdue bandits, catching escaping criminals, finding certain plants or herbs, taming Demonic beasts, Huang Ying even found a mission that only required them to clean a mansion belonging to a fellow student.

Huang Ying and Fang Shan did not bother looking at these types of missions, favoring missions that involved battles and traveling away from the academy. They were planning on finding missions that not only let them leave the academy to accumulate contribution points, but also gave them the chance to grow stronger.

Huang Ying was scanning through a few missions when he suddenly found a mission that made him stop searching. The mission was very simple, exterminate a bandit group that was hiding out around the Eastern Sun City, the leader of the bandits was someone at the peak of the Xiantian realm.

The reason this mission caught Huang Ying's interest was it's location. Before he entered Vast Plains Ruin, he had spent a short time in Eastern Sun City, gathering information. Reading the name Eastern Sun City reminded him of how he had escaped from Empyrean Phoenix Academy.

“Did you find something?”

Fang Shan saw Huang Ying's lips curl up into a sinister smile, so she couldn't help but ask.

“I just remembered that there are two heads I have yet to collect. What do you say Little Shan, want to join me and kill some pigeons?”

Huang Ying tilted his head, looking at Fang Shan next to him as he spoke. He had once promised Cui Xima and Deng Rong that he would return and take their heads. The two of them were around the late stage of the Xiantian realm, with Huang Ying's current strength, reaping their heads would not be a problem.

“Hunting pigeons? Count me in.”

Hearing his words, Fang Shan's mouth also curled up into a smile. She had of course heard about the time Huang Ying had spent inside the dungeon of Empyrean Phoenix Academy. Since they dared torture someone she cared about, they could forget about living a peaceful life.

While Huang Ying and Fang Shan were registering the missions that they had accepted, as well as preparing some dried food that they could bring along, Zhouyun was watching the last day of the newcomer competition.

Zhouyun sat in the arena, but he did not pay much attention to the battles taking place, most of his concentration was focused on trying to find out which person the six other overlords wanted to cripple.

While he was deep in thought, a younger male student walked up to Zhouyun and whispered into his ear, snapping Zhouyun back to reality. Zhouyun lazily swept the surroundings with a glance, before turning to the youth.

“They are both preparing to leave the academy?”

The youth had just delivered the news that both Fang Shan and Huang Ying were preparing to leave the academy and take on several missions. Zhouyun had ordered several people to keep a close eye on both Fang Shan and Huang Ying.

He wanted to keep a close eye on Fang Shan because he enjoyed conquering and taming such arrogant and wild women. The reason he kept an eye on Huang Ying was slightly different. He wanted to keep an eye on Huang Ying because of two reasons.

The first reason was because he wanted to find out what Huang Ying's relationship with Xiao Mei was. He refused to believe that Xiao Mei was so close to Huang Ying because she fell in love with him. The second reason he wanted to keep an eye on Huang Ying was because Huang Ying made him feel uneasy.

He could not understand Huang Ying. Whenever he looked at Huang Ying and interacted with him, he looked and acted just like a normal student would when facing Zhouyun. But Zhouyun's senses told him that something was wrong, a feeling that made him uneasy.

“Tell Bai Jing to bring a few people and come here.”

After a short moment of thinking, Bai Jing sent his words into the youth's ear. The youth nodded and left Zhouyun, heading towards Bai Jing. Zhouyun originally considered not doing anything, but when he mixed his sense of unease with how that girl from Eternal Flame Academy had called out to Huang Ying yesterday, he decided that it would be safer to take action.

–

Huang Ying and Fang Shan accepted several missions that required them to hunt down either Demonic beasts or bandit groups, before leaving the Mission House and picking up a few things that they felt they would need for a prolonged stay outside the academy.

After picking up everything they thought necessary, they left the academy and headed towards the exit of the city. The academy had a Spatial Array that they could use to travel directly to Cloud's End City, but they both chose not to do this, preferring to walk the entire way.

“Ahhh, You finally left that blasted place, so I can finally stop hiding.”

Not long after they left the city, Li Jun's relieved voice rang out inside Huang Ying's mind. Ever since they entered Eastern Wind Academy and found out that one of Li Jun's old friends was still living there, Li Jun had decided to hide away. Lest he be discovered and news of him surviving spread around.

“You sound weaker than before. The same happened after we left the Vast Plains Ruin. Why is that?”

It was hard to notice the slight weakness in Li Jun's voice, but Huang Ying still managed to notice it, prompting him to ask. After they left the Vast Plains Ruin, Li Jun had sounded much weaker for a period of time, but he had refused to tell Huang Ying why.

“Hiding away from people like old ghost Huo Fei Tang or that freak inside the Vast Plains Ruin requires a large amount of energy. I will naturally sound a bit weaker after exerting so much energy.”

Contrary to what Huang Ying expected, Li Jun actually answered him, speaking in a very nonchalant manner. As he heard Li Jun's explanation, Huang Ying remembered that Li Jun once told him that a soul had a finite amount of energy after leaving it's body, so it needed constant replenishment.

“But is it really me we should be talking about now? It's only been a month, but that Zhouyun is already working on screwing you over. He is even trying to cuckold you!”

Before Huang Ying got the chance to respond, Li Jun's angry voice resounded inside Huang Ying's mind, causing the corner of Huang Ying's mouth to twitch. Cuckold him? It was true that Huang Ying and Fang Shan both had some feelings for each other, they had just never chosen to voice them or act on them.

“As you have just left the academy and have free reins, it is the perfect chance to dramatically increase your strength. Before you return to the academy, I will help you do three things. Forge your weapon, increase your cultivation, and unleash your own domain.”

Li Jun had made several plans while Huang Ying was inside the academy. If he stayed like he was now, he might end up getting killed by Zhouyun or one of his goons sooner or later. All three things that Li Jun mentioned could quickly increase Huang Ying's strength.

“Increasing my cultivation and unleashing my own domain are things that can be done rather easily, but how do you plan on helping me forge my weapon, I already broke the orb that was going to be the core of the entire thing. Finding another one of those is not going to be easy.”

While inside the academy, Huang Ying had completely consolidated his cultivation, so using his devouring Qi to reach the late stage of the Xiantian realm would not cause any problems. He also did not doubt that Li Jun had some special way that could let Huang Ying unleash his domain before reaching the Yin-Yang Formation realm.

The problem was that the core he wanted to use for his weapon had shattered while he was trying to cancel the forging process. Without that core, his weapon would be much weaker.

“We will not work on finding another one of those orbs, hoping to find a second one like it is almost impossible. We will take another approach, we will forge a new core, a better one.”

Li Jun's voice carried a slightly sinister tone as it rang out. He knew even more so than Huang Ying that finding a second one of those orbs was nearly impossible, because he truly knew how special that orb really had been.

“Forge one? How so?”

Huang Ying couldn't help but ask, intrigued by Li Jun's words. After he finished his words, a large amount of information flooded into his mind, describing a forging technique that Huang Ying had never even heard of.

“This technique I just transmitted to you was one that I used in the past to forge cores for several of my own weapons and arrays. I imagine that it shouldn't be hard for you to forge at least one of these?”

“Not a problem.”

Huang Ying's mouth couldn't help but curl up into a slight smile as he answered Li Jun. The technique he had been transmitted was not a technique to forge weapons, but a technique to forge special materials.

In theory, it was a surprisingly simple technique. It did not require any rare or expensive resources, but it still let you forge wonderful materials that could be used as cores for arrays and weapons.

The technique only required a single type of resource, either a Demon Crystal or a World Core. The more World Cores and Demon Crystals he gathered and fused, the stronger the material he would create. Since he was now going to hunt Demonic beasts and various bandit groups, was this not the perfect technique?

In Eternal Flame Academy, there was a small hall that was lit up by several braziers, each one blazing with a different type of flames. The only other item in this hall was a small prayer mat located at the center of the room.

There was currently a graceful and elegant middle aged woman sitting with her legs crossed on this prayer mat. She was clad in a scarlet robe that featured the insignia of the Eternal Flame Academy. Her scarlet hair was so long that it would reach the floor even if she were to stand up. In front of this graceful woman stood two female youths, Chen Chun and Shi Na, standing patiently and waiting for the graceful woman to speak.

“Little Chun, Little Na, I have a mission for the both of you. We have gotten reports that a Demonic beast with the bloodline of the Golden Crow has been spotted at the outskirts of the Divine Wilderness. It's strength is only around the peak of the Xiantian realm, so I want the both of you to kill it and bring it's blood back. You must go immediately.”

The graceful woman's voice was calm and soothing, like a cool breeze that eased the mind. Shi Na and Chen Chun both quickly nodded their heads and accepted the mission, quickly turning around and leaving the hall to prepare for the mission. This was not the first time the two of them had been sent out to kill a Demonic beast and collect it's blood, so they did not find anything strange about this mission.

After Shi Na and Chen Chun left the hall, the graceful woman continued to sit on the prayer mat, her eyes slightly unfocused as a purple stream of energy moved around underneath her skin.

–

“They are getting closer. They should reach us within a few hours.”

Fang Shan and Huang Ying sat next to a small camp fire, roasting some meat. It had been a few days since they had left Eastern Wind Academy, and they had returned to a familiar spot that was a few days away from Golden Auction City. This was the spot where they took a rest after leaving the city and then got attacked by Waning Moon assassins.

The one who spoke out was Fang Shan, her words causing the corners of Huang Ying's mouth to pull up into a faint smile. The people she was talking about was the reason the two of them decided to stop here and wait. Ever since they left Eastern Wind Academy, Fang Shan had sensed that someone was following them.

Of course, she only knew that someone was following them, she had only learned this when Huang Ying told her.. She was not like Huang Ying, who had Li Jun to keep constant watch. Huang Ying knew that it was Bai Jing as well as four other people that were following them.

He guessed that they would be too cautious to try and attack Huang Ying while he was close to Heaven's Crossroads City. So he had chosen this forest that was a few days away from Heaven's Crossroads City, hoping that they would take the bait and attack them.

“Good, let's hope that they are stupid enough to attack us.”

Huang Ying couldn't help but chuckle as he took a bite of the meat. Before they even left Heaven's Crossroads City, Huang Ying had made Li Jun completely hide him and Fang Shan, allowing them to slip out of the city undetected.

He of course did not do this in the hopes that people from the academy would not follow him, he had done it so that the people who were spying on him would not notice him leaving.

He knew that there were people from Heaven's Secrets Company that were constantly following him, keeping an eye on him while also preventing others from spying on him. With Li Jun hiding the two of them, they resembled completely normal people, so no one had noticed when they slipped out of the city.

This meant that Huang Ying would not have to worry about anyone spying on him while he was outside of the academy, allowing him to use all of his power. Of course, while the people spying on him could not find him, he made sure that Bai Jing could. Li Jun had warned him that Bai Jing left the city not long after they did, so he made Li Jun keep an eye on Bai Jing, as well as lead Bai Jing to them if the opportunity arose.

A few hours later, Bai Jing had indeed managed to catch up to them. But he did not take action immediately, instead choosing to wait nearby and observe them. Noticing this, both Fang Shan and Huang Ying almost burst out laughing. It seemed like Bai Jing was so arrogant that he never even considered the possibility that they would discover him, even though he had already lost to Fang Shan.

“Come on now. You are going to hide now? We have waited so long for you to catch up to us, why bother hiding now?”

Fang Shan shouted out towards the forest, picking a bone out from the fire and throwing it in the direction of Bai Jing and the others. Not long after the bone had been thrown, Bai Jing as well as four other male youths walked out from the forest, ugly expressions on their face.

“Oh, fully healed? It seems like someone fed you some good medicine.”

Fang Shan couldn't help but mock Bai Jing when she saw him. The injuries she had inflicted on him only a few days ago were not something that would heal this quickly. This could only mean that someone had given Bai Jing some good medicine to quickly heal his wounds.

“Senior Brother Zhouyun would like to invite you to join him in his cabin for a discussion about cultivation. It is very rare for people to get to enjoy such a good chance, so I suggest you accept the invitation Junior Sister Shan.”

Despite her mockery, Bai Jing managed to maintain his calm. He cupped his hands towards Fang Shan and politely inviting her, completely ignoring Huang Ying. Of course, no one present believed that it would not just be a discussion about cultivation.

“A discussion? That does sound very interesting. Tell you what, if you manage to beat my Ying'er, I will follow you.”

Fang Shan put on an interested expression before sending a coquettish look at Huang Ying, her voice soft and teasing. Bai Jing and the others had ugly expressions on their faces when they heard her words, but Huang Ying did not show much of a reaction, slightly disappointing Fang Shan.

Of course, while she was slightly disappointed, she was also slightly happy. This was the first time she had tried calling him Ying'er, and since he did not show any reaction, it was clear that he was fine with her calling him this. They both knew about the others feelings, they had just never said anything about them openly, as they both saw no need to do so.

“Are you joking with us? I must warn you once more. While Senior Brother Zhouyun wants to invite you back to his cabin, he has also told us that if we are unable to convince you to join him, it is fine if we simply bring back your body and your virgin Yin.”

Bai Jing's expression sank as he coldly spat out the words. After he spoke, one of the youths behind him raised his hand, a faint black Qi rising up from his palm. Huang Ying couldn't help but raise his eyebrow when he saw this black Qi.

It was one of the rarer types of Qi, even rarer than light and darkness type Qi. It was death Qi. Death Qi had many different uses, but the most known way of using it was to create puppets. Of course, these puppets would not be made out of wood or stone, but out of people.

The death Qi could be used to reanimate a body that had recently died, turning it into a slave that would be forced to follow your orders. The virgin Yin that Bai Jing spoke of was something that only women had, men had virgin Yang.

When a person first lost their virginity, this virgin Yin or Yang would enter the body of their partner, nourishing them. If a person was stronger or had a very special bloodline, their virgin Yin or Yang would also be more powerful, in some cases even being able to grant the person who takes it new elements or abilities.

Bai Jing was hoping to see Fang Shan and Huang Ying's panicked expression, but all that greeted him were two mocking smiles. Just as he was about to flare up again, he saw Huang Ying stand up and speak out.

“I'll take care of Bai Jing, you can take care of the four others. Once I have cleaned up Bai Jing, i'll come and help you.”

“Help me? I'll bet you I can kill the four before you even finish with Bai Jing.”

Fang Shan's clear laughter rang out as she stood up, looking at the four people with indifference. Of the four of them, only two were at the late stage of the Xiantian realm, the two others were at the middle stage, they were not even a challenge to her. It was clear that the four of them were supposed to kill Huang Ying while Bai Jing would block Fang Shan.

Huang Ying's mouth couldn't help but curl up into a slightly sinister smile as he spoke. He had placed a strand of devouring Qi into Bai Jing's World Core, so he could completely cripple him with just a single thought.

“How about the loser has to do one thing that the winner orders them to? Or are you too scared i'll make you do something embarrassing Xiao Ying?”

Seeing Huang Ying agree to her bet, Fang Shan's lips curled into a smile. She had confidence in that she could easily kill these four people before he managed to finish of Bai Jing.

“Why would I be scared Little Shan? I'm going to win.”

Huang Ying's eyebrows twitched slightly at the way Fang Shan called him, but he chose to simply ignore it, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly as he responded.

“We'll have to see about that Little Ying.”

Fang Shan let out a cute snort when she heard Huang Ying's response and saw how nonchalant he was. Bai Jing might not be that strong, but she still felt confident that he would manage to fight Huang Ying for a short while.

“Alright, what is up with all those nicknames you keep calling me? It's just one after another.”

Huang Ying's eyebrow twitched once more when he heard Fang Shan's response. This time he couldn't help but ask her about the nicknames. First she called him brother Ying, then Ying'er, then Xiao Ying, and then Little Ying.

He didn't mind the first two that much, but the last two were a bit hard to listen to. Fang Shan only reached up to his chest, so hearing her call him Little Ying felt far too bizarre.

“What, you can call me Little Shan but I can't give you a bunch of nicknames? You belong to me, so what is wrong with me giving you a bunch of nicknames?”

Fang Shan let out another cute snort, loudly proclaiming Huang Ying as her's. At the same time she also looked at him with a slight glare, a glare that wasn't threatening in the slightest, on the contrary, it was rather cute.

“Alright, alright, I get it. I won't call you Little Shan anymore. What do you want me to call you then?”

Huang Ying raised his hands in defeat. He had only called her Little Shan because he felt that calling her Sister Shan would feel weird, but now it seemed like he had offended this little vixen.

“Call me Shan'er. And don't forget to do it really affectionately.”

Fang Shan's lips curled into a smirk when she saw Huang Ying's response. She found it exceptionally funny when she saw how his eyebrows twitched when she told him to say it affectionately.

Of course, she only said that to tease him, how could she not know that he barely had a single romantic bone in his body? But then again, that was one of the parts about him that she liked, how straightforward he was about it.

“Are you two lovebirds done?! Do you think that we are air!?”

Bai Jing could not resist it any longer, giving a loud shout when he saw how the two of them completely ignored him and his group. This complete disregard was one of the greatest insults and humiliation he could imagine.

He managed to calm himself down when he thought about how he could kill Huang Ying and send Fang Shan to serve Zhouyun in bed, but he still felt furious at being ignored.

“You are about as threatening as air at least.”

Contrary to what Bai Jing expected, Fang Shan quickly nodded her head and spoke with a serious expression, causing Bai Jing's expression to sink even further.

“They do have a point though. Let's finish this and keep moving, we have a bunch of missions to finish.”

Huang Ying spoke up after Fang Shan, it was indeed time for them to finish this. He was just about to step towards Bai Jing when he saw Fang Shan send another glare his way.

“Fine, fine. Let's finish this quickly, Shan'er.”

Huang Ying once more raised his arms in defeat, quickly correcting himself. A smile quickly bloomed on Fang Shan's face when she heard how Huang Ying called her. After making sure that he understood how he should call her, she moved towards the four people that Bai Jing brought with him.

“Don't kill him immediately. Let him activate his domain, this is a good chance to activate yours.”

With Bai Jing's domain covering Huang Ying, the temperature immediately dropped, snowflakes appearing in the air around Huang Ying. Each snowflake drifted along with the wind, but Huang Ying knew that each snowflake could turn into a deadly weapon with the slightest thought from Bai Jing.

“Alright, how are we going to activate it?”

Bai Jing's mouth was moving, but Huang Ying completely ignored him, not even paying attention to what he was saying. He instead started talking with Li Jun while keeping half an eye on Fang Shan's fight. Of the four people she was fighting, one used the fire element, one used the death element, one used the water element, while the last person used the ice element.

“Use your energy vision to see how Bai Jing moves his Qi around to create the domain, feel the pressure it puts on you. Once you have memorized this, imagine the pressure you think your elements would create, and then force that pressure upon the surrounding world. If that does not work, I will force the domain to activate. The domain will be harder to control and slightly weaker if I force it out, so I hope it won't come to that,”

Every person had their own type of domain, as the type of domain you had depended not just on what type of element you had, but also how you yourself saw your own element.

After hearing Li Jun's explanation, Huang Ying activated his energy vision to closely examine the way Bai Jing used his Qi. At the same time, he also made sure to closely feel how the domain put pressure on him.

When it came to seeing how people used their Qi, Huang Ying was confident that there were very few people who could beat him. After all, he had not only eaten a Heaven's Eye Mushroom, but he had also devoured Yang Xinyi's special eyes while he took part in the Academy Battle.

Seeing Huang Ying simply stand there, even after he activated his domain, Bai Jing almost felt like throwing up some blood from anger. But when he saw that Huang Ying was not even looking at him, but instead half closing his eyes half paying attention to Fang Shan, he almost felt the world go black in front of his eyes.

Bai Jing gave a loud shout and charged directly at Huang Ying. While he was charging at Huang Ying, he also made sure that the snowflakes that were just drifting around sped up.

Each snowflake could turn into a weapon for Bai Jing, so Huang Ying would have to dodge every single one of them if he did not want to get hurt. When Bai Jing charged towards him, Huang Ying also started moving, dodging most of the snowflakes as well as all the punches Bai Jing sent at him.

He was not in a rush to fight back. Fang Shan had only managed to wound one of the four people, so she would still require some time to finish her fight. This meant that he still had plenty of time to sense the pressure of Bai Jing's domain.

The pressure Bai Jing's domain gave off was a mixture of soft and hard. As the snowflakes drifted around, they were so soft that they could be destroyed by just blowing some air at them. This was the soft part of the domain.

But when Huang Ying stretched out his hand and touched one of the snowflakes, Bai Jing made the snowflake turn into a thick spike of ice that cleanly pierced through Huang Ying's hand. Even if Huang Ying were to smash this spike of ice into a rock with all his strength, the ice would not receive a single scratch. This was the hard part of the domain.

As the fight went on for a bit, Bai Jing felt more and more uneasy. The way Huang Ying managed to dodge all of his attacks and even most of his snowflakes made him feel uneasy. Even when he thought that Huang Ying got wounded by the occasional snowflake that hit him, he would just pull out the ice and his wound would rapidly heal. When he saw the speed at which Huang Ying's wounds were healing, he couldn't help but wonder, was this even human anymore?

“Let's try this out then.”

After spending a bit more time dodging and occasionally grabbing a snowflake, Huang Ying muttered to himself, his eyes lighting up. He had completely memorized how Bai Jing used his Qi while activating the domain, he had also felt every aspect of the pressure that Bai Jing's domain put on him. The only step left was to see if he could activate his own domain.

Huang Ying started circulating the Qi within his body, visualizing the pressure that he imagined his elements to have on the outside world as he did so. At first there was no change to the surroundings, but after a short while, Huang Ying could suddenly feel his Qi slowly drain from his body.

As his Qi started slowly draining, the temperature of the surroundings started swiftly dropping. As the temperature started dropping, ice started appearing everywhere. Not just the ground started freezing, even the snowflakes that Bai Jing had summoned started freezing.

“What?!”

Bai Jing couldn't help but shout out when he felt himself lose connection with his own domain. The only way this could happen was if his domain was being suppressed by someone else's domain. This was quickly proved correct when the ground started freezing over, even his own snowflakes turned to ice and became weapons to harm him.

“What type of monster are you?!”

He quickly realized why Huang Ying had not dodged all of his snowflakes. He had used the pressure from Bai Jing's domain to awaken his own domain. Upon realizing this, Bai Jing couldn't help but slightly pale and shout out. He was only at the early stage of the Xiantian realm, but he had already awakened his own domain, what type of concept was this?

Huang Ying didn't respond to Bai Jing, simply sending a smile his way. While Bai Jing's domain focused on the softness of snow and the hardness of ice, Huang Ying's domain was based on something much simpler. Extreme cold. Cold that would turn the entire world to ice if it were to be left unchecked.

Bai Jing was shocked when Huang Ying first awakened his domain, but he only became more shocked at what followed. The extreme cold domain that Huang Ying had brought forth suddenly changed, the ice that was floating around in the air turning into bolts of azure lightning that tore up the ground.

Since Huang Ying had several elements, he would of course have several domains. This was his lightning domain, a domain based on the extreme force that a lightning bolt struck with. Each bolt of lightning would tear up the ground, sending scorched earth flying.

Bai Jing thought that would be the end of it, but then he suddenly felt the domain change once more. He couldn't help but feel like screaming. He had more elements?!

The bolts of lightning vanished, and what replaced them was a frightening heat. The earth started burning with crimson flames as the temperature started rising at a furious pace. Since his ice domain was based on extreme cold, his flame domain would obviously be based on extreme heat, heat strong enough to melt even the strongest material.

Of course, all these domains were just the start for Huang Ying, he still had his two main domains that he wanted to try out, devouring and destruction. He sent a quick glance at Bai Jing. Bai Jing's face was completely pale, his eyes quickly scanning the surroundings, his attacks not even having half the force they used to have. It was clear that he had completely given up on this fight and was trying to figure out a way to escape.

Of the two main domains, Huang Ying decided to try out his destruction domain first. He channeled his Qi and imagined the destructive pressure, but despite his Qi swiftly vanishing, the surroundings only turned slightly darker. He tried it a few more times, but there was still no real result.

In the end, he could do nothing but abandon the plan of activating his destruction domain now, it seemed like he did not have enough Qi to properly activate it just yet. He did not dwell on it any longer, moving directly onto his devouring domain.

Activating his devouring domain went much smoother than activating his destruction domain. His Qi still vanished swiftly, but at least there was a reaction in the world around him.

When he activated his devouring domain, the air quickly turned darker, as if the sun had been covered by clouds. As the air turned darker, a devouring force spread into the world around Huang Ying.

The plants inside the domain started withering at a rapid pace, all the bugs inside the domain instantly died as their life force was sucked dry, even Bai Jing was heavily affected by the devouring force, his life force and Qi swiftly leaving his body.

Feeling the devouring force sucking out his Qi and life force, Bai Jing quickly turned even paler as he realized exactly who Huang Ying was. He couldn't help but scream out and stop his attacks, quickly backing up.

Of course, Huang Ying would not give him the chance to flee. In the time it took Huang Ying to test out his domains, Fang Shan had already managed to kill one of the four people, and heavily injuring a second one.

Huang Ying moved the strand of devouring Qi located in Bai Jing's World Core, causing it to surround the World Core and completely cutting Bai Jing off from his Qi. Without access to his Qi, Bai Jing was barely any different from a normal person, he only had a stronger body.

“Please don't do this! I can be your servant! I can help you against Zhouyun, I can work as a spy!”

When he felt the Qi within his body seemingly vanish, Bai Jing quickly fell to his knees and started begging, his entire face devoid of blood and covered in tears. Huang Ying removed the devouring domain and started walking towards Bai Jing.

“It really feels rather strange, seeing someone who I only used to have a small chance of beating groveling in front of me and begging to be my servant.”

Huang Ying couldn't help but mutter to himself as he saw the way Bai Jing was acting. Of course, even though he felt like that, there was no way he would spare him.

“That was the you of back then. If it were the you of this morning, before you awakened your domain, you would still be able to easily kill Bai Jing. Even someone at the early stage of the Yin-Yang Formation Realm could be killed by you if you gave it your all. The you now has the strength to fight toe to toe with a weaker person at the middle stage of the Yin-Yang Formation realm.”

Li Jun's voice rang out in Huang Ying's mind after he finished muttering to himself, his words causing Huang Ying to stop his steps.

“Even before I awakened my domain? But my cultivation has not increased since the last time I face Bai Jing, how is it that I would be able to easily kill him?”

Huang Ying couldn't help but ask after hearing Li Jun's words. He had not increased his cultivation since they took the entrance test to Eastern Wind Academy, so his strength should not have increased any.

Li Jun's voice rang out once more, sounding slightly disbelieving. His words caused Huang Ying to quickly sink his mind into his own body, closely examining his own World Core as well as checking out his destruction Qi.

“What is this?”

Upon checking his own destruction Qi, he noticed that it's strength had increased since he last checked it in Golden Auction City. Whereas it needed a few seconds to disintegrate Jing Yimu's arm back then, Huang Ying was now confident that it would require less than one second now.

But what he found the most surprising was his World Core. It was still in the shape of a pitch black waning moon, looking almost exactly like it did earlier. But once he took a closer look, he noticed a tiny white spot at one of the tips. The white spot was almost unnoticeable, but he was certain that it had not been there before.

“This is what turned your hair white. That orb you acquired in Golden Auction City was more special than you imagined. I didn't notice it at first, but when you tried to forcefully absorb your Qi and blood from within the orb, it brought back something that had hidden deep within the orb. A sliver of creation Qi.”

Li Jun had not noticed the creation Qi within the orb when they first saw it, he simply noticed that the chill it brought with it was unnaturally strong. But when Huang Ying was attempting to absorb his own blood and Qi from within the orb, he had felt the small sliver of creation Qi follow Huang Ying's blood and enter his body.

“Creation Qi? What would it do within the orb?”

Li Jun's words caused several questions to appear in Huang Ying's mind. Why would there be creation Qi in the orb? Who put the creation Qi there? Was it put there by the person who had the creation element?

“I don't know, but it is clear that the orb was once in the hands of the person who holds the creation element. This could also mean that he is on this very planet.”

“Would he be able to sense me?”

Huang Ying's expression sank when he heard Li Jun's words. The person who held the creation element would obviously not become Huang Ying's ally, but rather his enemy. This was because for the creation element to achieve it's goal, it would need the destruction element to no longer exist.

“Doubtful. Since you could not sense the creation Qi within the orb, he should not be able to sense your destruction Qi. You should take it one step at a time, focus on getting stronger first.”

Li Jun's words caused Huang Ying to let out a slight sigh of relief. It did indeed make sense, Huang Ying had not sensed anything from the creation element, even after it entered his body. This meant that the person who held the creation element would most likely be unable to sense him, especially if Huang Ying did not use the destruction element too much.

Huang Ying took a deep breath and calmed his mind, his eyes focusing on Bai Jing. Seeing his eyes focus on him, Bai Jing was just about to plead for mercy once more. Before Bai Jing had the chance to plead for mercy, Huang Ying sent out a punch.

Huang Ying's fist hit Bai Jing's dantian and turned from a punch into a spear hand. Huang Ying's body was originally around the same level of strength as Bai Jing's, but Huang Ying's attack was reinforce by Qi, while Bai Jing's body was not. His hand pierced into Bai Jing's body and grabbed onto his World Core.

Huang Ying pulled out his hand, bringing with it Bai Jing's World Core. Bai Jing's World Core was completely round and pure white in color. The surface of his World Core seemed to be squirming, as if there was something beneath the surface trying to burst out.

This was the sign of someone at the half step to Yin-Yang Formation realm. Once the thing squirming beneath the surface burst out and settled down on the planet, becoming the first life form to exist on the planet, he would officially enter the Yin-Yang Formation realm.

Bai Jing turned white as a sheet of paper upon seeing that Huang Ying had dug out his World Core, this meant that he could never cultivate again. Huang Ying glanced over at the white Bai Jing, his lips curling up into a sinister smile.

He sent out a kick with all his might, hitting Bai Jing's knee. With a loud crack, Bai Jing's knee completely shattered and he fell to the ground with a loud scream. Huang Ying stepped forward and raised his foot, sending it hurtling down at Bai Jing's face in a mighty stomp.

Huang Ying continued to stomp on Bai Jing's face until his skull cracked and was completely shattered. A cultivator at the half step to the Yin-Yang Formation realm had died just like that, stomped to death.

After killing Bai Jing, Huang Ying took his interspatial ring and then stopped paying attention to him. The sliver of devouring Qi that surrounded Bai Jing's World Core also returned to Huang Ying's body, bringing with it all the Qi it had leeched from Bai Jing in the time it had been inside his World Core.

“That little? What a shame.”

Huang Ying couldn't help but click his tongue when he saw how little his cultivation increased upon absorbing that sliver of devouring Qi. It had spent a little over a month inside Bai Jing's World Core, constantly leeching his Qi, but it had barely increased his cultivation.

“What do you expect? That your cultivation will increase as fast as the cultivation of your little girlfriends? You are the sole holder of the destruction and devouring element. The sheer amount of Qi it will take you to increase your cultivation from here on out can only be called obscene. Of course, the more it takes you to increase your cultivation level, the higher the increase in strength whenever you do increase your cultivation level.”

Li Jun's voice rang out in Huang Ying's mind after he clicked his tongue. The world was fair like that, it would require Huang Ying a massive amount of energy to increase his cultivation, much more than it took others. But his strength would also increase much more whenever he reached another cultivation level, making him far stronger than others at his level.

After storing away Bai Jing's World core, Huang Ying no longer bothered paying attention to Bai Jing's body. Since he had taken Bai Jing's World Core, he could no longer devour any Qi from Bai Jing. And since Bai Jing's body was even slightly weaker than his own, there was no point in devouring his flesh and blood, as it would not strengthen his own by too much.

Huang Ying seemed to suddenly remember something, as he turned back to Bai Jing's body, his lips curling up into a smile. He waved his hand, causing a one meter long black phoenix to appear in front of him. Ever since Huang Ying fused all his bloodlines, he had rarely brought out Little Flame, as he would attract too much attention if here were seen.

“Eat up Little Flame, can't let such a good meal go to waste.”

Huang Ying pointed at Bai Jing's body as he spoke, prompting Little Flame to change into a one meter long black dragon and fly over to Bai Jing's body, slowly tearing off pieces of flesh. Bai Jing's body would not allow Huang Ying's body to strengthen by much, but it still contained enough energy to let Little Flame grow a little stronger.

While Little Flame was eating Bai Jing's body, Huang Ying turned back towards Fang Shan and her battlefield. The group of four had shrunk to become a group of two, as Fang Shan had already killed two of the people in the group. Of the last two, one was slightly injured, while the last one's injuries were more severe.

They had not seen how Huang Ying had killed Bai Jing, but they had heard him beg for mercy, as well as how he screamed when Huang Ying dug out his World Core. They had already lost all will to fight, they had even tried to flee and beg for mercy. But much to their dismay, the monster of a girl in front of them allowed them to do neither, relentlessly attacking them.

“Oy, Shan'er. Bai Jing is already dead, you've lost!”

Huang Ying's lips curled up into a teasing smile as he called out loudly towards Fang Shan, causing her twitch slightly. She couldn't help but silently curse Bai Jing, cursing him for not being able to hold out for at least a minute longer.

“Don't destroy their World Cores, I have a need for them.”

Huang Ying called out towards Fang Shan once more, his words causing the remaining two men to turn completely pale. Not only were they going to be killed, these monsters were even going to take and use their World Cores?

After reminding Fang Shan, Huang Ying walked over to the two people that Fang Shan had already killed. He dug ut their World Cores and stored them away into his interspatial ring, took their interspatial rings, and then threw their corpses over to Little Flame, who happily started gorging himself.

Since the both of them were already wounded, the two remaining people only managed to last for another minute in Fang Shan's hands. Their faces still held an unwilling expression as they died, regretting that they had agreed to follow Bai Jing on this mission.

Huang Ying once more dug out their World Cores and interspatial rings, and threw the corpses to Little Flame. Huang Ying did not mind giving these corpses to Little Flame, he would probably end up giving Little flame many more strong corpses in the future. Little Flame was completely tied to Huang Ying because of their bloodlines, so whenever one of them got stronger, the other one would also get slightly stronger.

After throwing the last corpse to Little Flame, Huang Ying turned to a slightly sour-faced Fang Shan, a teasing smile on his face. Seeing this smile, Fang Shan couldn't help but feel like delivering a punch right to his face.

“Now then, what should I have the loser of the bet do?”

Huang Ying fondled his chin slightly as he thought out loud, his every word causing the desire to punch him to grow within Fang Shan.

“A bet is a bet. Since I lost I will follow one order that you give, but only the one.”

Fang Shan straightened out her back as she spoke. She was a straightforward person. She had brought up the idea of a bet, so she would obviously honor it, even when she was the one who lost.

“Tch, sucked the fun right out of it.”

Hearing her response, Huang Ying's teasing smile vanished, replaced by his normal faint one instead, he shrugged his shoulders and slightly shook his head, no longer dragging it out.

“Alright, I have a very simple order. Just a short while ago, you loudly proclaimed that I belonged to you, did you not? I want you to do the same now, but instead of proclaiming that I belong to you, I want you to proclaim that you belong to me.”

Hearing his words, Fang Shan couldn't help but falter slightly. That was it? He looked like he had prepared to give her a completely insane order, but it ended up being something so mundane and normal?

Fang Shan's eyes suddenly lit up as she was struck by an idea, her lips curling to the same teasing smile Huang Ying had earlier. She reached out with her hands and grabbed onto the collar of his robe. She forcibly bent his body forward, bringing his head down low enough so that they were face to face.

“Alright, since you want it like that. Huang Ying, you are mine, and I will not let anyone steal you from me. And in just the same way, I am yours, and you will not let anyone take me from you.”

Fang Shan brought her face right up to Huang Ying's as she spoke, a surprisingly sweet smile on her face. She did not give him a chance to react, quickly covering his lips with her own, giving him a forceful kiss.

“That's what you get for trying to tease me.”

After about half a minute, Fang Shan cut the kiss short, pushing Huang Ying away as she spoke with a triumphant smile. Since he was trying to tease her, it was only fair that she get to tease him.

Just as Fang Shan was about to turn around and step away from Huang Ying, she found that his hand had already grabbed onto her waist. Before she got the chance to say anything, she was pulled towards him and he bent down and planted a kiss of his own on her lips.

“I heard some people say that the first kiss supposedly tastes like lemon, but it seems that they were mistaken. Tastes more like victory.”

After finishing the kiss, Huang Ying gave his lips a quick lick, sending a wide grin at Fang Shan. He was not one to let anyone else have the last laugh. Of course, the two of them were only able to act like this because they were currently alone, as they were not shameless enough to act like this in front of others.

Of course, the both of them also knew that at least half of the attraction they felt towards each other came from their bloodlines matching. But neither of them cared about this, after all, attraction was attraction.

A few days after killing Bai Jing, Fang Shan forced Huang Ying to stop by Golden Auction City. Huang Ying was currently standing outside an extravagant restaurant in Golden Auction City, looking at the menu that they had posted outside. He glanced at Fang Shan next to him, who was reading the menu with great interest, as he asked.

“Come on, you got a bunch of money from Bai Jing's interspatial ring didn't you? What's wrong with taking a break and treating me to some good food?”

Fang Shan's lips curled up into a smile as she answered. She moved away from the menu and pushed Huang Ying into the restaurant, not giving him the option of leaving. Before they even got close to the city, Huang Ying had made Li Jun stealthily disguise them. This way there was no risk of them getting recognized by anyone.

The inside of the restaurant was just as extravagant as the outside. Just on the first floor, there were various types of bamboo and flowers planted between the tables, a small stream even coursed throughout the entire restaurant. There also seemed to be an array located in the restaurant that produced a few puffy clouds that floated around above the heads of the customers.

“Greetings. Would you like me to take you to a table?”

After the two of them entered, a blonde woman clad in tight and revealing clothes walked over. She gave a polite bow as she looked the two of them up and down. While she spoke, she indicated towards one of the tables on the first floor that was empty.

Huang Ying gave off the sensation that he was a normal person, but Fang Shan gave off the same pressure as someone at the late stage of the Xiantian realm. She could tell from their looks and Fang Shan's cultivation that she was probably some traveling noble who had come with her butler to eat, this was the only reason that she had walked over and greeted them.

“Show us to your best table and bring us the best food on the menu, plenty of it.”

Fang Shan didn't even look at the table that the waitress indicated. While speaking she also took out a large amount of money from her interspatial ring and showed it to the waitress.

The fact that she indicated a table on the first floor meant that she did not think that they could afford sitting at any of their finer tables. Fang Shan had come here to enjoy herself, so how could she be satisfied with sitting at the first floor?

“Very well. Follow me please madam.”

The waitress gave another polite bow before leading Fang Shan and Huang Ying up the stairs. She took them directly to the third and final floor of the restaurant. The third floor was slightly different from the rest of the restaurant, as it only contained several closed booths.

The waitress took them over to a booth marked with the word 'Clouds' and opened the door for them, allowing them to enter the booth. Entering the booth lead them to what seemed like a completely different world. There was a blue sky above them, a fresh breeze bringing with it a faint scent of flowers blowing against their face, and instead of ground beneath them, they were standing on soft clouds.

“Please take a seat, I will have the food delivered shortly.”

The waitress gave one last polite bow before turning around and leaving the booth, closing the door behind her. When she closed the door, the clouds beneath Huang Ying and Fang Shan rose up to form a table and two chairs, allowing them to take a seat.

“So why did we really stop by here?”

After the two of them took a seat, Huang Ying once more questioned Fang Shan. Was it really just to take a break and eat good food?

“I spent my entire life inside those ruins, do you have any idea how terrible the food inside there was? And once I finally got the chance to leave, most of the time was spent traveling or at an academy where all the best food cost a ridiculous amount of contribution points.”

Fang Shan shrugged her shoulders as she spoke. Most Demonic beasts would not bother with cooking, as they would just eat the meat raw. Of course, some Demonic beasts who integrated with humans would slowly learn to enjoy cooking.

“Now that we have the chance to eat excellent food, there is no way that I am letting it go. Besides, you should be happy. You get to not just eat an excellent meal, but also spend time with a beautiful woman, there is no downside.”

Fang Shan finished her words with a laugh, causing Huang Ying to be slightly surprised. It was really just to eat some good food? After giving it a bit of thought, he found that it made sense. Ever since they left the ruins, they had not eaten a single excellent meal. The free food in the academy was good, but it could not be called excellent. If it were excellent, it would not be free.

With that thought in mind, Huang Ying decided to shrug his shoulders and enjoy himself. Ever since he left Azure Springs Town, he had barely had a single day of proper rest. It had always been traveling around or focusing on getting stronger. Taking a day of rest did not sound like a bad idea.

The food arrived after a few short minutes, brought directly into the booth by several waiters. The food consisted of meat from various Demonic beasts, wine and vegetables that had absorbed massive amounts of Qi, as well as soup that had been made from the bones and blood of strong Demonic beasts.

Cultivators required large amounts of energy, much more than normal people, so Huang Ying and Fang Shan ordered more food several times. At the end of the day, they had eaten enough food for at least 100 people. The food they had eaten would quickly be digested and turned into energy for them, so they did not need to worry about the food taking up too much space inside their stomach.

After spending half a day eating, they paid the bill, which almost emptied all the money from Bai Jing's interspatial ring. They then wandered a bit more around town, checking out the various shops and if there was anything worth buying. After buying a few more spare robes, they found an inn and rented a room. Tomorrow morning they would continue to head towards Eastern Sun City, so they decided to rest early.

After leaving Golden Auction City, it took Huang Ying and Fang Shan almost half a month to finally reach Eastern Sun city. Of course, one of the reasons that it took them so long was because they would occasionally make some detours to complete one of the missions they had accepted.

All the missions they had accepted were missions that were placed in such a way that they could go from one mission to the next without having to make too many detours, allowing them to quickly clear as many as possible.

On the third day after leaving Golden Auction City, they took a detour and cleared out three bandit groups, as well as hunted down five Demonic beasts that they had missions for. After that, they traveled to a small town and took another day of rest where they simply traveled around the town and ate all kinds of food.

This type of traveling continued all the way up until they reached Eastern Sun City. The bandit group that they were going to clear out now was the last mission they had accepted, after clearing it, it was time to hunt two pigeons.

After entering Eastern Sun City, they both decided that they would take another rest day, a day where they just wandered around the city and ate some good food. Huang Ying had already decided that he would spend as much time as possible outside of the academy. If possible, he did not want to return until it was time for the competition to decide who would enter the Immortal Garden took place.

“So where exactly is this bandit group located?”

While sitting in a restaurant and eating a meal on their third day in Eastern Sun City, Fang Shan started talking about their mission. The mission they had in this area was to kill a bandit group that had been causing a lot of trouble. The leader of the bandit group was only at the peak of the Xiantian realm, so the mission held no risk to them.

“About half a day away from the city. No one in the city is stronger than the bandit leader, so they have been unable to remove the bandit group. But the bandit group does not dare wipe out the village, as that may enrage the Zhao clan.”

Huang Ying quickly brought up the information about the mission again, relaying it to Fang Shan. The part of the continent they were in now was controlled by the Zhao clan, which meant that every city belonged to the Zhao clan. Because of this, most bandit groups would not be willing to cause a large amount of damage to cities, mostly just kidnap a few people or attack travelers.

“Half a day? Then I guess we better leave right after eating, that way we can be back just in time to eat dinner.”

Fang Shan muttered slightly after thinking. It was evening right now, so if they left immediately, they would arrive at the bandit hideout around the time the sun rose. Taking into account the time it took to finish the job and return, it would be around dinner time when they returned.

Over this half a month of traveling, Huang Ying had already gotten used to how much Fang Shan loved good food, so he simply nodded his head in agreement. The two of them quickly finished eating their meal, paid the bill, and then stood up and left the city.

They traveled through the night, reaching the bandit hideout just before the sun started rising. The bandit hideout was just a single large mansion that the bandits had built themselves using a mixture of wood and stone from the surroundings. The hideout needed to house the around 50 bandits as well as the people they had kidnapped, so it was at least three kilometers in length.

“It's quite large isn't it? How do you want to go about cleaning it out?”

Huang Ying inspected the mansion from the outside and couldn't help but click his tongue. He had seen larger and more extravagant mansions before, but none that had been built by bandits.

“Shan'er?”

Upon not receiving an answer from Fang Shan he turned his head towards her, only to see that she was currently wearing a very gloomy, almost furious expression as she looked at the mansion.

“Did you see something?”

Since she was this angry, it was clear that she had spotted something in the mansion that infuriated her. Fang Shan had an ability that Huang Ying did not have, the ability to use her lightning Qi to scan a large area. This scan allowed her to see any living being within a certain area, as well as what they are doing.

“I want to be the one who clears out this mansion. They have kidnapped mostly young women.”

Fang Shan grit her teeth as she spoke. There was no need for her to say anything else, as Huang Ying knew exactly what the bandits would do to kidnapped women.

“Alright, you can do with them as you wish. Just make sure that you don't crush too many of the World Cores.”

Huang Ying nodded his head as he responded, the two of them starting to walk towards the mansion. Huang Ying had no mercy for people who engaged in rape, as he saw it as a fate worse than death. And it was clear that Fang Shan hated people like this even more, as it was often women who suffered this fate.

There were two bandits standing guard outside the mansion, but with Fang Shan's speed, the two of them died before they even managed to make a single sound in warning. Fang Shan dug out their World Cores and threw them to Huang Ying, who stored them away.

Huang Ying had told her to be careful and not break too many World Cores, as he imagined that she might have some trouble holding back all of her attacks. But despite her rage, Fang Shan still had perfect control. Since Huang Ying needed a lot of World Cores and Demon Crystals for something, she would obviously not go around and break the things that he needed.

Before entering the mansion, Fang Shan spent a short amount of time setting up a few arrays around the mansion. Like this, no one could leave the mansion without triggering the arrays and suffering their attacks. Besides the leader of the bandits, Fang Shan was confident that no one in the mansion would survive an attack by the arrays.

After entering the mansion, the two of them split up. Fang Shan started rampaging through the mansion, killing any bandit she came upon and freeing anyone who wasn't a bandit. Huang Ying on the other hand headed deeper into the mansion.

He had opened his devouring domain immediately upon entering, and using the domain, he had found a small and hidden hatch that lead downwards. The hatch lead into a small underground cavern, a large metal door located at the other end.

Huang Ying walked over to the metal door with an interested look on his face. He placed his hand on the metal door, channeling a large amount of fire Qi into his hand. The door quickly heated up, melting after only a short while.

Behind the metal door was a treasury, a large amount of various items and gold placed all around. But the item that caught Huang Ying's attention was a simple wooden box located in a corner of the treasury. Huang Ying quickly walked over to the box and placed his hand on it, feeling the coarse texture.

The reason this box had caught his interest was because he could not sense it. He couldn't sense it using his domain, nor could he sense it using his perception. When he asked Li Jun, he was shocked because he noticed that not even Li Jun could sense the box.

A box that not even Li Jun could sense would obviously be something extremely special. Huang Ying did not hesitate to open the box and check what was stored inside it. The item inside the box was a completely white ganoderma, it had the same texture as bones and gave off a cold air that held the scent of death.

“Dead bone ganoderma! Why is this thing here?! It should only exist on the Gu continent.”

Right after opening the box, Li Jun's shocked and excited voice rang out in Huang Ying's mind, catching him completely off guard. He had never heard Li Jun be this shocked or excited, especially at the same time. It was clear that this ganoderma was much more special than he first thought.

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